Miranda Lambert Once Opened Up About Experiencing Homelessness Growing Up
While country singer Miranda Lambert resides in Nashville, Tennessee nowadays, she was born and raised in Texas. Lambert has frequently opened up about how the song “The House That Built Me” is one of her favorites. In an interview with Red Book Magazine, Lambert revealed the song has a special meaning to her because her family was “literally homeless” for a time.
Miranda Lambert felt drawn to the song ‘The House That Built Me’
“The House That Built Me” was written by songwriters Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin, and it was originally intended to be a song for Blake Shelton, Lambert’s ex-husband.
However, when Lambert first heard the song, it immediately struck a chord with her.
“We were driving home from the airport, listening to a pitch CD for Blake. ‘The House That Built Me’ just hit me so hard. My dad and mom had a successful private-investigator business, but there was a spell when jobs stopped coming in. They lost everything and had to start over. We moved to this old farmhouse, and I think that shaped me to be who I am,” Lambert told Red Book Magazine in 2011.
The country singer was ‘literally homeless’ growing up
Speaking with Red Book Magazine, Lambert revealed that when she reacted so strongly to “The House That Built Me,” Shelton encouraged her to record the song herself.
“We fixed it up as the money came little by little, one room at a time. I remember my mom tacked pictures on the walls of what it was going to look like, every little detail. So in the car I just started bawling, and Blake’s like, ‘Baby, if the song hits you like that, you need to record it. Do you want it?’ I said, ‘Hell yeah, I want it!’ We joke now because when it was about to go number one, he was like, ‘Hey, can I have that song back?'” Lambert explained.
The country singer released “The House That Built Me” on her 2009 album Revolution.
“It’s come full circle. That song is so special because it reminds me of the bad that happened. We were literally homeless. We had to live with my uncle. And I watched my dad come through it. He had to dig ditches a few times for four dollars an hour because we had to eat,” Lambert told Red Book Magazine.
Miranda Lambert has fond memories of her past
Looking back, Lambert recognizes how important her past was, and she even replicated the farmhouse she once lived in once she became a successful artist.
“The part that I love the most is that when we moved out to the house that built me — that’s what we call the farmhouse now — Dad was like, ‘My family will never be hungry again.’ So we literally lived off our land for about two years,” Lambert told Red Book Magazine.
She continued, “We had hogs and rabbits. We had a garden. Mom would be like, ‘Y’all go pick out what you want tonight.’ The first big thing I ever did [after my success] was to buy a big farm in Oklahoma, and I have a garden, all the same stuff.”
