You Can Still Be A Star

Miranda Lambert featuring The B-52’s “Music City Queen”

Miranda Lambert is a genius and force for good in this world because she wrote this song, had the somewhat improbable but totally correct thought “this could use some Fred Schneider,” and then actually got The B-52’s in the studio to make it happen. “Music City Queen” is a sunny, campy country rock tune in tribute to “flashy and trashy” nobodies living it up in spite of not making it in proper show biz. Lambert, an arena-filling star for nearly two decades, isn’t condescending here though she is funny – if anything she sounds jealous of all the no-frills fun and absolute shamelessness. The song doesn’t sound like The B-52’s but the band’s three vocalists are so perfectly suited to the sentiment and feel of it. Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson add their signature sugary harmonies spiked with a little attitude, while Schneider does some ad-libs and call-and-response with Lambert that makes him seem like a beloved eccentric bar regular in the context of the song. Can they get John Waters to make a video for this and really complete the bit?

Buy it from Amazon.