Miranda Lambert The Weight of These Wings

For Miranda Lambert, creating well is the best revenge.

The country star’s first batch of songs post-Blake Shelton divorce is a fantastic double album, The Weight of These Wings, balancing brash modern songs (“Bad Boy,” “Pink Sunglasses”) with nods to vintage country. “To Learn Her” is a Dolly Parton-esque ballad; pedal steel curls like smoke on the sparse “Pushin’ Time”; and the harmony-driven “Good Ol’ Days” recalls Gillian Welch’s dusty twang.

Unsurprisingly, Weight alludes to relationship issues (“Happiness ain’t prison, but there’s freedom in a broken heart”) and the futility of shaking an ex (“Six Degrees of Separation”), but the record feels more insightful when it speaks to the complexity of picking up the pieces, as on standout “Smoking Jacket,” a smoldering, sparse ode to a man who “Might be quite continental/But he’s sure gonna take me home.”

Such grit and resilience ensure The Weight of These Wings is a rousing success.