Music

Miranda Lambert brought a bevvy of musical friends — including Little Big Town, Dan+Shay, Lukas Nelson and HARDY — with her for the “Music For Mutts” benefit concert, which took place Saturday (Oct. 5) at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater.

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Presented by Tractor Supply, the concert is Lambert’s latest effort toward supporting a cause she has long championed: lifting up shelter pets who are all-too-often forgotten, and aiding pet shelters in need of supplies.

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“I’m so happy to be here,” Lambert told the crowd early in her set. “We’re singing for the dogs — all the dogs!”

The concert helped continue the work of the MuttNation Foundation, which Lambert and her mother Bev launched 15 years ago, and has raised more than $10 million to promote adoption, support shelters, aiding with the transport of animals during natural disasters and more. Prior to the show, there was a public dog adoption event held at Ascend Park, with pet shelters taking part, including Crossroads Campus, Nashville Humane, Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary, and Wags and Walks.

The concert opened with a double-shot of Texas country, as Jake Worthington served as the opening act, followed by Miranda’s headlining set. Worthington was raised in La Porte, Texas, just over an hour away from George Jones’ hometown, and his sound is steeped in much of the same honky-tonk forged, deep Texas twang, evidenced by his effortless vocal rendering of songs such as “Next New Thing,” or the earnest balladry in “The State You Left Me In.”  Of course, there were plenty of nods to sawdust floors, neon lights and the Lone Star State in songs such as “Honkytonk Crowd” and “Honkytonks in Texas.”

From there, as a glittering saddle hung from above the stage, Lambert launched her “Miranda and Friends” portion of the show with a double-barrel of high-octane songs, “Fastest Girl in Town” and “Kerosene.”

She welcomed a string of guests, as the show toggled between Lambert solo performances and collaborative efforts with her musical cohorts including Worthington, HARDY, Lukas Nelson, Ashley Monroe, Riley Green, Dan + Shay and Little Big Town.

“I work and then I get a concert,” Lambert quipped of watching her fellow musicians perform.

Calling him “country as a biscuit,” Lambert invited Worthington back to the stage. Worthington, who recently shifted from Big Loud Records to Lambert’s label imprint Big Loud Texas, joined her on the pointed ballad “Hello S—ty Day.”

Throughout the evening, she performed many fan-favorites, including “If I Was a Cowboy,” “Mama’s Broken Heart,” “Gunpowder and Lead,” “The House That Built Me” and “Automatic” (with the screens showing several of Lambert’s childhood photos while also chronicling the early days of her musical journey).

Lambert wore a spangly black and neon pink outfit, which Lambert told the crowd was hand-embroidered and, appropriately, featured images of each of her dogs on the outfit. Throughout the evening, screens behind her filled with Images of fiery running horses, cacti, and star-filled skies over desert horizons.

Lambert also offered songs from her new album Postcards From Texas, including “Alimony.” Lambert nodded to MuttNation’s work to helping dog shelters and dogs in need of aid, before introducing another song from her new album, “Dammit Randy.” “Speaking of dogs, I wrote this one for my new record about a guy named Randy. So if you’ve got a Randy in your life and you have somebody you just need to flip the bird to, this is for you.”

She welcomed Nelson to help honor the late singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson by singing a Mere Haggard classic, “Silver Wings,” with Lambert noting, “Because we know Kris loved Merle… we love you, Kris.”

Back in June, Lukas Nelson and his band The Promise of the Real announced they were going on hiatus, while many of the band members would pursue various creative endeavors. During the “Music For Mutts” show, Nelson gave a ferocious solo turn on the group’s “Find Yourself,” spearheaded by Nelson’s pulse-racing guitar riffs, and his gritty, soul-scraping voice.

From there, Lambert welcomed another guest, Riley Green. Lambert noted that after one of his recent concerts near the East Coast was nixed due to Hurricane Helene, Green called to see if he could help with the “Music For Mutts” Show. Green, who is riding high on the success of his collaboration with Ella Langley, “You Look Like You Love Me,” performed his 2019-released “I Wish Grandpas Never Died,” and the female-majority audience took notice, standing up, waving and filming the performance on their phones.

Lambert welcomed her frequent co-writer and Pistol Annies bandmate Ashley Monroe to join her for “Heart Like Mine.” Another of her frequent co-writers, Nashville songwriter luminary Natalie Hemby, joined for a songs they co-wrote, “Bluebird,” as well as a rendition of the Lambert/Jack Ingram/Jon Randal co-write “Geraldene.”

From there, Lambert welcomed Dan+Shay to the stage as they performed their hits “Tequila” and “Speechless,” spearheaded by Shay Mooney’s pitch-perfect vocal. Meanwhile, his bandmate Dan Smyers spoke of how proud they were to take part in the evening, given their shared passion for helping animals. Smyers and his wife Abby helped open a Nashville branch of the animal rescue group Wags & Walks.

One of the most impactful moments came from HARDY, who performed the exquisitely-crafted, unreleased song “Dog Years,” which is sung from the perspective of looking back on an elderly dog’s life and being thankful for the “Dog Years.” He noted that the song was one that helped him get a music publishing deal early in his career, and given how the song brought tears to some in the audience, it does make one wonder why it was never released.

The vocal power and camaraderie onstage continued to reach new heights, thanks to vocal group Little Big Town (whom Lambert previously toured with in 2022 on The Bandwagon Tour), who joined forces with Lambert to collaborate on a range of songs including Little Big Town’s “Boondocks” and “Little White Church,” as well as Lambert’s “White Liar” and “Little Red Wagon.” The evening ended with an “all-sing,” as the entire lineup returned to the stage to perform “(Drunk) And I Don’t Wanna Go Home.”

“Thank you for spending your hard-earned money on some country music and helping doggies,” Lambert said, waving to the crowd.