Lambert knows critters, music
One of the best put-downs in country circles is "All hat and no cattle." That's when a poseur puts on a hat with city slicker hands. But country star Miranda Lambert is the opposite. She's no hat and all cattle.
Lambert, who sings outside at the Silverton tonight, grew up in rural Texas and now owns a farm in Oklahoma, getting her hands dirty with cows, horses, pigs, chickens, goats, dogs, cats and other treasures of the animal farm kingdom, she tells me.
"I'm a pretty hands-on animal mom," Lambert says in a Texas drawl.
Why'd she pick Oklahoma?
"I moved there for a boy," she says and laughs.
That's country star Blake Shelton. The two of them eat like Green Peacers, chowing all their organic, farm-raised food.
"My boyfriend has a song that goes, 'I was green before green was the thing,' " Lambert says.
If you see her at the Silverton (8 p.m.; $38.50; 914-8557), expect a good show. She usually earns great concert reviews for pretty songs such as "Dead Flowers," and hard chargers such as "Gunpowder & Lead."
She's got a "more grown-up record," "Revolution," coming out Sept. 29: "There's a little bit more songs about other stuff, besides killing people," she jokes.
If you see her offstage, where will she be?
"I play blackjack, go shopping and lay out" when in Vegas.
'I HAVE A MENTAL ILLNESS'
That's what Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz tells me. We chatted before they perform tonight at Red Rock Resort. He compares his struggle with Brian Wilson's. Read all about that in my column in the back of today's Neon section.
He also tells me that, although he has dated Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Mary Louise Parker, he hasn't hooked up with other famous women with whom the tabloids have connected him.
That's funny, Duritz says: His illness often makes him think nothing in life is real. Then he reads tabloid stories claiming he's in relationships that actually aren't real.
"That's a really bizarre thing," he says, "to read fictional accounts of your love life."
If you go to tonight's show ($72.50; 547-5300), be there by 8 p.m. because Counting Crows plays first, then performs with others on the bill -- Michael Franti & Spearhead, and Augustana -- then does a full set. It could be a nonstop three hours, he says.
Contact Doug Elfman at 702-383-0391 or e-mail him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He also blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.
