"Famous in a Small Town" | ||||
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Single by Miranda Lambert | ||||
from the album Crazy Ex-Girlfriend | ||||
Released | April 2, 2007 | |||
Recorded | 2006 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 4:05 | |||
Label | Columbia Nashville | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) |
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Miranda Lambert singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Famous in a Small Town" on YouTube |
"Famous in a Small Town" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Miranda Lambert. It was released in April 2007 as the second single from her album Crazy Ex-Girlfriend . It was Lambert's second Top 20 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 2008. The song was written by Lambert and Travis Howard.
The song was ranked number 40 on Engine 145's 50 Best Country Songs of 2007. [1]
"Famous in a Small Town" has a moderately fast tempo in the key of B major. The main chord pattern is Bsus2-Esus2/B-F♯/B. [2] The narrator describes the simplicities of living in a small town, where everyone knows each other and no one needs to have their face in a magazine to be famous. Thus, everybody dies "famous in a small town."
A music video was released for the song, directed by Trey Fanjoy. The video features Lambert singing in a town square in Lebanon, Tennessee mixed with scenes from Shelbyville, Tennessee. The video's depicts people's everyday lives in a small town, including a diner and high school; all of these scenes are shot in black and white. One major part in the video is every person/event seen is taken as a magazine picture (ending with Lambert herself getting one taken). Lambert is also seen playing her guitar and singing on a red carpet with camera flashes, neon signs, and her band, to contrast with the small town image, and is shot in color rather than black and white. This is her second video to be shot in both black and white and in color, after "New Strings" in 2006. In Lambert's own words, "Famous in a Small Town is really, (really) how it was growing up in Lindale." [3]
The music video reached the top spot of CMT's Top Twenty Countdown for the week of August 16, 2007.
"Famous in a Small Town" debuted at number 54 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of April 7, 2007. After 33 weeks on the chart, it peaked at number 14 on November 17, 2007.
Chart (2007) | Peak position |
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Canada Country ( Billboard ) [4] | 32 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [5] | 87 |
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [6] | 14 |
Chart (2007) | Peak position |
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US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [7] | 57 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United States (RIAA) [8] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
Miranda Leigh Lambert is an American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Born in Longview, Texas, she started out in early 2001 when she released her self-titled debut album independently. In 2003, she finished in third place on the television program Nashville Star, a singing competition which aired on the USA Network. Outside her solo career, she is a member of the Pistol Annies, a group she formed in 2011 alongside Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley. Lambert has been honored by the Grammy Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards. Lambert has been honored with more Academy of Country Music Awards than any artist in history and was named by the Chicago Tribune as the "greatest country music artist of all time" in 2019. In 2024, Lambert was awarded the Country Icon Award at the People's Choice Country Awards.
Ashley Lauren Monroe is an American country music singer-songwriter.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is the second studio album by American country music artist, Miranda Lambert, released May 1, 2007, by Columbia Nashville. It was produced by Frank Liddell and Mike Wrucke.
"Gunpowder & Lead" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Miranda Lambert. It was released in January 2008 as the third single from her album Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The album's third single, it became Lambert's first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs in July 2008. With over 1,000,000 digital downloads, "Gunpowder & Lead" was certified Platinum by the RIAA on December 3, 2010. The song was written by Lambert and Heather Little.
American country music singer Miranda Lambert has released eleven studio albums, one extended play, one video album, and has made 23 other album appearances. She has released 39 singles, nine promotional singles, and 37 music videos. Lambert has sold 7 million albums in the United States, with her first seven studio albums being certified platinum. In 2001, Lambert released a self-titled and self-financed independent album. After gaining exposure as the third-place winner of the television competition Nashville Star, Lambert signed with Epic Nashville in 2004.
"More Like Her" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Miranda Lambert. It was released in September 2008 as the fourth single from her album Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It is the only single from the album to be written solely by Lambert.
"Dead Flowers" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Miranda Lambert. On May 4, 2009, the song was released as the lead-off single from her album Revolution. Additionally, the song was included on an EP release also titled Dead Flowers.
"White Liar" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Miranda Lambert. It was released in August 2009 as the second single from her album Revolution. Lambert performed "White Liar" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on October 6, 2009, and on the 2009 CMA Awards on November 11, 2009. In December 2009, the song became Lambert's second Top 10 hit and reached a peak of number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of February 6, 2010. The song was written by Lambert and Natalie Hemby.
"The House That Built Me" is a song written by Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin, and recorded by American country music artist Miranda Lambert. Blake Shelton was originally set to record the song, but when Lambert heard it, she emotionally reacted to the lyrics, and immediately wanted to record it for herself. It was released in March 2010 as the third single from her third studio album, Revolution. It is the fastest-rising single of her career, reaching the Top 20 in its eighth week. For the chart week of June 12, 2010, the song became Lambert's first number one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and held its place at the top for four consecutive weeks. It is also Lambert's first single of her career that she did not have a hand in writing. Additionally, it was her second single to receive a platinum certification from the RIAA on January 31, 2011.
"Only Prettier" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Miranda Lambert. It was released in July 2010 as the fourth single from her album Revolution. Co-written with Natalie Hemby, the song has both a country girl and city girl facing each other over the differences of their respective lifestyles, coming to an agreement that they have similarities but the former says that she's like her "only prettier". Critics gave praise to Lambert's vocal performance and lyricism but were critical about the song's production.
"Heart Like Mine" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Miranda Lambert. It was released in January 2011 as the fifth and final single from her 2009 album Revolution. Lambert co-wrote this song with Ashley Monroe and Travis Howard.
"Over You" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Miranda Lambert. It was released in January 2012 as the second single from Lambert's album Four the Record.
"Fastest Girl in Town" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Miranda Lambert. It was released in June 2012 as the third single from Lambert's album Four the Record. The song was written by Lambert and Angaleena Presley.
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"Somethin' Bad" is a song recorded as a duet by American country music artists Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood. The song was written by Chris DeStefano, Brett James and Priscilla Renea. It was released as the second single from Lambert's fifth studio album Platinum in advance of the album's release two weeks later. The song premiered at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards on May 18, 2014, and was released for sale the next day.
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"Vice" is a song recorded by American country music artist Miranda Lambert. It was released to radio on July 18, 2016, as the lead single from Lambert's sixth studio album The Weight of These Wings (2016). The song was written by Lambert, Josh Osborne and Shane McAnally. "Vice" debuted at number two on the Hot Country Songs chart in August 2016. "Vice" was ranked at number 31 on Rolling Stone's "50 Best Songs of 2016" list.
"Forever Country" is a 2016 mashup performed by Artists of Then, Now & Forever, a one-time gathering of 30 American country music artists. The song combines elements of three previous country hits: John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" (1971), Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" (1979), and Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" (1973). The song was recorded to commemorate the Country Music Association Awards reaching its 50th year. Originally, CMA Awards producers had wanted to record a cover of a single song; the idea to instead record a mashup came from Joseph Kahn, who directed the song's music video. The song was recorded in a span of three days in Nashville, Tennessee, in June 2016 with Shane McAnally as producer, with the music video produced concurrently.
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