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Wranglers

"On February 18, 2001, Dale Earnhardt Sr., considered one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history, dies at the age of 49 in a last-lap crash at the 43rd Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Florida. After being cut from his car, Earnhardt, whose tough, aggressive driving style earned him the nickname “The Intimidator,” was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead of head injuries."
(history.com / A&E Television, November 13, 2009)

Having won 76 races, he is considered one of the legends of NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing). Dale Earnhardt did win the Winston Cup, the most important racing series in NASCAR, a total of seven times. Something that only two other racing drivers (Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson) had managed to achieve. Dale Earnhardt won the first of his seven Cup titles in the last race of the 1980 series at the Ontario Motor Speedway in California.

It was also the first race he took part in with a new sponsor, who would accompany him for the next couple of years: from now on, his blue and yellow Chevrolet Monte Carlo bore the logo of the jeans brand Wrangler, turning his car into the legendary Wrangler Jeans Machine.

 

The term Wrangler actually comes from the professional world of the cowboy and refers to someone who takes care of the horses on a big ranch. Accordingly, the Wrangler brand was originally rooted in that profession. The first official pair of Wrangler jeans was sold in 1947 under the name Original Cowboy Cut.

Bernard Lichtenstein, who had immigrated to the USA from Poland around the turn of the 20th century, played a key role in it. He had made himself a name as a designer of western clothing as Rodeo Ben, before creating the Wrangler design. Shortly after, his jeans were also approved by professional rodeo riders and Wrangler began its successful ride into the general public's awareness.

In 1962 the first factory opened in Europe, in 1983 Wrangler became a sponsor of one of the world's most successful soccer clubs at that time with Nottingham Forest from England and by 1996 Wrangler was number 1 in the American jeans market: one out of 4 males owned a pair of Wranger jeans. Today the brand is promoted and distributed by the publicly listed company Kontoor Brand Inc. from Greensboro, North Carolina.

 

On Saturday, April 27, 2024, Miranda Lambert headlined the second day of the annual 3-day music festival Stagecoach in California. This not only takes place on the same site as its more famous sister event Coachella, but traditionally also follows it the subsequent weekend. With over 80,000 visitors, Stagecoach is considered one of the largest country music festivals in the world.

With 22 songs, the now 40-year-old artist from Texas performed a cross-section of her two-decade-long, award-winning career on stage. In addition to the unexpected appearance of Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert took everyone by surprise with the premiere of a new song.

"It is a classic tale of a woman taking her power back," she said following the performance in a press statement about the song, which is titled 'Wranglers'. In the official video for the song, which was released on June 14, 2024, it becomes even clearer what it is about: the ugly ending of a relationship and the sarcastic realization that Wrangler jeans are apparently not flammable.

If he ever loved her, he never let it show.
If she didn't need him, she'd a left him long ago.
She set it all on fire, and if there's one thing that she learned,
Wranglers takе forever to burn.
(Wranglers / Evan McKeever, Ryan Carpenter, Audra Mae)

The revenge theme is reminiscent of her very first top 20 hit 'Kerosine' from 2005, for the video of which an entire house was set on fire. That's why the props of the matches and the kerosine canister were reused in the current video. The self-determined woman who is not to be trifled with was also the foucs of her third studio album "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" (2007).


"It feels like it could have been on the same record as Gunpowder & Lead in a lot of ways. [...] the way it's written, you can tell, we're not kidding," adds Miranda Lambert. And she's referring not only to the album "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend", but also to her first top-10 hit from 2007 ('Gunpowder & Lead') [on the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart], which has been triple-platinum awarded and still is her commercially most successful single to date.

'Wranglers' now is the first single for her new label Republic Records and a first release from an upcoming new album, about which Republic president Jim Roppo says: "We're honored Miranda Lambert has entrusted us with this next chapter of her career. As she puts the final touches on her fantastic new body of work, it has all the hallmarks of her signature sound, yet she continues to push herself as a songwriter, producer and performer."

"All I know is I’ve got a lot more to say," adds Miranda Lambert in a conversation with The Tennesseean. "So for anyone who's ever seen themselves in one of my songs, especially the rowdy ones, get ready! We wanted to come with something that really says something from the start. And there's a whole lot of feelings and rhythms and great playing to come."


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