“Smokin’ and Drinkin'”
Miranda Lambert with Little Big Town
Written by Natalie Hemby, Luke Laird, and Shane McAnally
Despite its title, Miranda Lambert’s “Smokin’ And Drinkin'” is not a rousing drinking party anthem. Instead, it is a quiet, wistful look back at the past.
With vocal support from Little Big Town, Lambert sounds like their lead, though modest, singer as they wax nostalgic about how “smokin’ and drinkin’ gets you thinkin’ about the one that got away.”
“Smokin’ And Drinkin’,” the fourth single from Platinum, is easily the most sonically unassuming single of Lambert’s career. In fact, it is so laid back that it may require multiple listens before it has a chance to grow on you. However, it is a pleasant, if not melancholy, drinking song that provides a nice juxtaposition to, and reprieve from, a string of raucous carefree party songs.
Grade: B
I liked this from the first time I heard it. The only minor nitpick I originally had was that with the harmonies, you can barely tell Miranda apart from the members of Little Big Town, and vice-versa. But, I’ve definitely gotten over that with a few listens.
It’s just a nice, wistful, laid-back summer ballad…and you don’t hear too many of these types of songs on country radio anymore. I’m hopeful that a song like this can be a hit given the current environment, especially since there are two A-list acts performing it.
Psu Guy,
I noticed the same thing about Miranda not standing out from Little Big Town in the mix, but ultimately decided that it was a nice choice. It kind of sounds like she’s a part of the group rather than them sounding like they’re her background singers, which is cool.
Agreed…it was a little odd on the first listen, but the song and the rest of the production hooked me enough that I grew to appreciate it. I think that decision to sound as a “group” also made their live performance at the CMA Awards sound all the better.
Totally with you, Leeann. I used to skip this track, but over time it got under my skin, and now I love it.
This album had a couple of slow burners for me. “All That’s Left” is another one.
On paper a Miranda LBT collaboration seems like a great idea, unfortunately in practice this one doesn’t work quite as well as I expected. The vocal track is just too busy, too many competing vocalist for my taste which waters down the performance a bit in my opinion. I do love the arrangement & the lyrics so I would grade this one out to a B as well, although I must admit wouldn’t have released this as a single at this point in time as I feel it lacks the punch to be a big chart success (which she needs badly right now to break out of the mini slump shes been in…). My choice for this single would be Another Sunday In The South . Its’s another summer groove but in my opinion its got a better vocal and a peppier arrangement that I believe gives it a much better shot of being a hit ( it also hast a Marty Raybon cameo, which is always a good thing…). and it’s replaced Famous In A Smalltown as my second favorite Miranda song of all time.
The songs alright, I just don’t think it was a good single choice for Miranda. It’s not bad, just kinda meh. To the average country music listener, it would probably be forgettable. I’d say this goes top 10 at most, but probably not past top 5. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I have always liked this track, but I have never loved it.