Miranda Lambert has been dropping emotional truth bombs on country music fans ever since her 2005 arrival with “Kerosene”. Alternately venomous and vulnerable in her lyrics, the Texas-born singer-songwriter ruled the country charts in the early aughts. “The House That Built Me”—from her third album Revolution—is perhaps her most famous example of the latter. On this day (June 28) in 2010, the song was on week three of a four-week run atop the Hot Country Songs chart. “The House That Built Me” has become so completely synonymous with Lambert that it’s difficult to believe it was intended for her then-husband.
Blake Shelton Almost Cut This Song Instead
Songwriters Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin penned “The House That Built Me” based on Shamblin’s experiences of returning to his childhood home in Huffman, Texas.
But when Miranda Lambert’s parents first heard the song, they were shocked to learn that the lyrics didn’t come directly from their daughter.
“It’s like the persons that wrote that song were channeling into our lives at that horrible but great time in our lives,” Rick Lambert told Today in 2010. “It was so many mixed emotions during that time because we actually lost everything we owned. We actually lost a house that we built with our own hands.”
In the early 1990s, the singer’s family was on the verge of bankruptcy when her private investigator parents hit a financial rough spot.
Left homeless, the four Lamberts stayed with family before moving into a rental property that was on the verge of being bulldozed due to its deteriorating condition.
Slowly but surely, Rick and Bev Lambert fixed up the home. They survived by eating from their garden and hunting game animals.
The “Gunpowder and Lead” singer was in the room with her then-husband, Blake Shelton, when he heard the song pitch for the first time.
Glancing over at Lambert, the “God’s Country” singer could see that she was sobbing. He insisted that she record the emotional ballad instead.
Miranda Lambert Says This is “Everybody’s Song”
Released in March 2010, “The House That Built Me” became the fastest-rising single of Miranda Lambert’s career.
Within eight weeks, it had cracked the top 20. By the beginning of June, Lambert had her first-ever number-one hit.
Speaking to Rolling Stone of the song’s appeal, Lambert said, “Every person in the room either wishes they had that or did, and I feel like that’s where the emotion comes up. And that’s when you know you’ve done your job. It’s when people cry, you know, as a songwriter, that’s kind of part of it.”
“The House That Built Me” swept the Academy of Country Music Awards, winning song, single and video of the year. The Country Music Association also handed out trophies for song and music video of the year.
Featured image by Rick Diamond/Getty Images
The post On the Charts This Day in 2010, Miranda Lambert Held Firm at No. 1 With a Tearjerker Originally Meant for Blake Shelton appeared first on American Songwriter.
Author: Erinn Callahan