Rolling Stone (Oct. 15th 2009)

The Rise of a Redneck Diva

[edited version]

Lambert got her first break on the show Nashville Star in 2003, but her good-ol'-boy bona fides run deep. She grew up in Texas, where her father was a police officer and private investigator — he worked for Paula Jones during her sexual-harassment lawsuit against Bill Clinton. Lambert was a daddy's girl who insisted on tagging along with her father and brother on hunting trips. "I got my first BB gun at four years old," she says. "The first time we harvested a deer, my dad took the blood and rubbed it on my cheeks. Now I'm addicted." These days she loads her shot-gun with her country-hunk boyfriend, singer Blake Shelton. "In the fall we hunt, in the summer we fish," says Shelton. "Drinking happens year-round."

"Time to Get a Gun" is just a sign of the times, claims Lambert, not a call to arms. "Where I'm from, there's an uncertain feeling that nobody knows what's going to happen with our country because the economy is so terrible," she says. "People feel like buying a gun is their last chance to protect themselves."

That includes Lambert: "The other day, I went into a Bass Pro Shop and came out with a pistol and a bikini," she says. "Now that's redneck!" Adds Shelton, "Some guys trade guns and knives with their buddies. I do that with my girlfriend."