Miranda Lambert Says Loretta Lynn Made Her Feel Like ‘An Old Friend’

Miranda Lambert walked the red carpet at last week's (11/8) CMA Awards in Nashville and stopped to chat with People about a few things, including how she felt about country icon Loretta Lynn, who she paid tribute to on the show.

Miranda said of Lynn, who passed in early October, "I spent some time with her, and you meet a lot of people in a career, but it's one of those memories that's forever burned into my heart. She was such a lovely human being and made me feel so at home. It's kind of intimidating to hang out with your hero all day, but she made me just feel like an old friend."

Lambert got to perform with Loretta on occasion through the years. She said, "I'm thankful for every time she held my hand and signed my guitar and told me about a memory and gave me advice." She keeps that precious guitar at home. "I play it at home. I don't take it on the road, for sure."

Before she sang the Loretta Lynn medley with Carrie Underwood and Reba McEntire at the CMAs, she mentioned that it was the first time the three superstars blended their voices. Still, she was confident it would go great, "We've got a Texan and two Okies. What could go wrong?"

She added that she was nervous about performing at the CMAs. She admitted, "I get butterflies, but I feel so lucky. I feel lucky to be here, to be nominated, and that my peers still respect what I do, and most important, the fans are still with me and still supporting every record."

Looking ahead, Lambert has been writing songs with her fellow Pistol Annies, Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe. She said, "We've been writing some and hanging. It's really hard to get the three schedules together because they are both moms, and I'm in Vegas doing the residency. But we find time to spend together, and that usually entails a guitar."

Last night's 56th Annual CMA Awards was low on drama but it was a big night for great performances. The music did the talking and led to a lot of standing ovations.

We look at some amazing and sometimes riveting performances from country music's elite on country music's biggest night.

This is such a good song. It's the very first live performance that Thomas and Katy have done together, and they pulled it off perfectly. Katy was ready for country, sporting a black cowboy hat. You could see how much the two performers clicked together, and at the end, shouting out each other's name was the icing on the cake.

With these three ladies performing together, you knew this would be great even before it started. The performance was sassy, fun, and just a delight to watch as Kelsea, Kelly, and Carly put this guy in his place. This performance makes you wonder why Kelsea wasn't in the Female Vocalist category this year. That will likely change next year.

What a way to start the CMA Awards with these three queens of country music paying tribute to country music's first queen, Loretta Lynn. As expected, the three sang their own Loretta songs flawlessly, and Lynn would have been proud. When the camera flashed to the crowd to show Keith Urban singing along, you knew it would be a highlight of the show. They started it off with a video clip of Loretta accepting her Entertainer of the Year honor in 1972, an amazing moment.

This performance was on fire and showed just how good Brothers Osborne is, and the new duo War and Treaty were wonderful with the duo's Tanya Trotter seemed to channel Tina Turner for the performance. It was so impressive that when War and Treaty came backstage to say hi to the press, they were met with cheers and applause and that rarely happens for any act, let alone a new one.

This is a haunting and epic song, to begin with, and last night's (11/9) performance from Hardy and new CMA darling Lainey Wilson was spot-on and gave you the chills. Lainey's performance was so dramatic; it showed us how good her acting chops are and why she will be great on Paramount's "Yellowstone" Season Five when it premieres later this month.

Hearing Patty Loveless' stirring and emotional performance with Chris Stapleton of "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive," a song she recorded in 2008, reminded me how much I loved Patty's music and why she was the CMA's Female Vocalist in 1996. The performance, which also featured Chris' wife Morgane, gave me goosebumps until the very last note Loveless sang as the country stars in the crowd swayed, sang along, and stood in admiration for another exceptional Stapleton collaborative CMA performance.

The CMA's Alan Jackson tribute to honor him with the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement award from Carrie Underwood, Dierks Bentley, Jon Pardi, and then Alan himself was such a joy for the audience who sang along with every word of Jackson's"Chattahoochee." A tearful Underwood introduced the performance by telling the crowd that her very first concert as a kid was an Alan Jackson one.