Miranda Lambert Treats C2C Fans to an Unreleased ‘Actin’ Up’

Miranda Lambert debuted one of the as-yet unreleased tracks on her upcoming album, Palomino, during her set at the Country 2 Country Festival in London last Thursday (March 10).

Called “Actin’ Up,” the new tune is classic Lambert: Free-wheeling, irreverent and colorful lyrics paired against a catchy beat with a healthy dose of twang. It’s the first track on Palomino, and the singer co-wrote it with frequent collaborators Luke Dick and Jon Randall.

The new track features a nod to the album’s title, with the line “I wanna see the desert from a painted Palomino / Señorita need to have a little fun / Mm, I’m actin’ up…”

Due out April 29, Palomino is a 15-song set that includes Lambert’s current single, “If I Was a Cowboy.” The album also delivers new studio versions of a handful of tracks that originally featured on The Marfa Tapes, an acoustic project Lambert put out in 2021 together with her collaborators and fellow Texans, Randall and Jack Ingram. Those tracks are “In His Arms,” “Geraldene” and “Waxahachie.”

Dick, a co-writer on “Actin’ Up,” is a frequent presence on Palomino. He, Lambert and Natalie Hemby co-wrote nine of the 15 songs on the album, and when she announced the project, Lambert said that her writing sessions with those two collaborators served as the foundation for the project.

“Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby, and I went out to my farm in Tennessee in 2020 and started writing songs. We figured while we have time let’s get out to the country and see what happens,” the singer recounts. “The first one we wrote was ‘Tourist’ and that set us on a path to create something with a bit of a theme. Since we couldn’t travel at the time, we decided to go on a journey through songs. I hope y’all are ready to travel with us wandering spirits and meet some cool characters with great stories.”

Lambert was recently named Entertainer of the Year at the 2022 ACM Awards.