Released 20/09/2011
Pistol Annies is an American country music supergroup composed of longtime friends Ashley Monroe, Miranda Lambert and newcomer Angaleena Presley. The three girls have all adopted nicknames of their own: Lone Star Annie for Texan Lambert, Hippie Annie for Monroe, and Holler Annie for Presley (a nod to her Eastern Kentucky roots). They're all women of the South, but as Monroe points out, they each bring different musical influences to the table: classic Tennessee country (a la Dolly Parton) from Monroe; bluegrass from Kentucky girl Presley (daughter of a third-generation coal miner); and hard-edged, outlaw honky-tonk (from Waylon to Merle) from Lambert, who cut her teeth playing the rowdy bar and festival circuit in Texas long before finding fame in the mainstream. But it all blends together in the Pistol Annies' original music as seamlessly as their voices. Fittingly, "Hell on Heels" is both the title track and the opening song on the Pistol Annies' smoking debut. Clocking in at a lean-and-mean, filler-free 30 minutes, the album is equal parts sass ("Hell on Heels," "Bad Example," "Takin' Pills"), heartache ("Beige," "The Hunter's Wife," "Family Feud") and hard knocks ("Lemon Drop," "Housewife's Prayer" and "Trailer for Rent"), sweetened with just enough wistful Southern romance to reveal a teasing hint of vulnerability ("Boys from the South"). Every song was written by one or more of the Annies, with only one intrepid outsider Lambert's husband, Blake Shelton sneaking in for a quick cowriting credit on "Family Feud".
Disc 1: Hell On Heels Lemon Drop Beige Bad Example Housewife's Prayer Takin' Pills Boys From The South The Hunter's Wife Trailer For Rent Family Feud