Story Behind the Song: Miranda Lambert, ‘Dark Bars’

Miranda Lambert may be one of country music's biggest stars, and has gotten used to playing amphitheaters and winning awards, but the singer says that she's still at her most comfortable in -- well, a dark bar. Lambert tapped into those roots while writing her song "Dark Bars," off her Wildcard album.

Lambert wrote the track with help from the songwriting team the Love Junkies, comprised of Lori McKenna, Liz Rose and Hillary Lindsey. Read on to learn more about the story behind "Dark Bars," as told by Lambert herself.

I was sitting in New York. I've been spending a lot of time there, because I married [Brendan McLoughlin], a Staten Island native who is an NYPD officer, and who has made me happy, thank the good Lord!

But I spend a lot of time in SoHo. We have an apartment with a fire escape, and I was in the city, real proud of myself about it -- just four days a week, don't get me wrong. I have to go home -- and I was feeling creative. I knew we were kind of closing in on a window to write for a record. On a last-minute whim, I texted Liz Rose and said, "Y'all should come to New York." So she called Lori [McKenna], and Lori was in Boston, so she wasn't far. Then we called Hillary [Lindsey] and forced her to come.

So we went and had cheeseburgers, and then we went and sat on the fire escape and smoked cigs out the window, which we weren't supposed to be doing. I don't even smoke anymore, but I was writing songs, so I felt like I was being creative!

Liz got there early, and when she was on her way in the car, I just said, "Let's go find some dark bars and see if we can find some stories to write about." She said, "I think that is the story." And she's right.

Because, like, today, my guitar tech brought my guitar up to the bus so I could practice, and it smelled like beer and cigarettes, and I got so excited. Because it really did feel like home to me. I'm so blessed that this has gotten big and we can tour arenas and do all of this crazy s--t -- it's awesome -- but I feel the most at home [on a small stage], in front of people who want to hear country music.

WATCH: Miranda Lambert Loses It When She Starts Singing

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