With a new album on the way, country legend Miranda Lambert kicks off the rodeo.

Miranda Lambert is turning country music up to 11.

Exploring the full potential of country is something she has done from the beginning. But with Crisco – due to be released in October – Lambert finds in the genre a range of sound, humanity and wit far deeper than two chords and the truth.

“I’ve always loved every corner of country music,” she said in a statement. “The heartbreak songs, the honky-tonk songs, the songs that make you think and the songs that make you dance.”

The title track dwells on the latter. There is a kinship between the music and the dance floor that is a little bit country, but also universal: “Baby, we’ve been cookin’ with Crisco/ Ain’t we mixin’ country and disco/ Stir it around, give it a spin/ And it’s a rhinestone world we’re livin’ in.”

Crisco will be Lambert’s 11th solo studio album. While each of the previous 10 landed in the Top 10 in the country albums chart, Lambert observes that the upcoming collection captures something distinct.

“We followed the songs wherever they wanted to go – trusted our instincts,” she said. “Making this record reminded me that those things” – the train songs, the pain songs, the dance songs and all – “don’t have to be separated.”

Tracks such as “Whiskey Business” and “Two Things Can Be True” are human stories, with frailties and the kind of rationality earned over time. “Right Where We Left It” looks back on possibilities perhaps lost.

Her Monterey County appearance launches the 2026 California Rodeo Salinas. Like others in the genre, cowboy life is part of Lambert’s repertoire. She gave her Las Vegas residency the title Velvet Rodeo, a line from the 2022 hit “Actin’ Up.” That same album featured lines that may foreshadow the vibe: “You thought the West was wild, but you ain’t saddled up with me.”

Lambert’s sense of adventure within country music has made her the most celebrated performer by the Academy of Country Music since she was named Top New Female Vocalist in 2007 – and that signature honor came after her 2005 album Kerosene reached platinum. The accolades include nine top vocalist awards and 10 records or songs of the year. It’s likely there’s an 11th on the horizon.

MIRANDA LAMBERT headlines the Big Week Kick Off Concert, 6:30pm Saturday, July 11. Salinas Sports Complex, 1034 N. Main St., Salinas. $60-$100. (800) 549-4989, carodeo.com.