- Miranda Lambert was awarded the Icon Award by Billboard this week.
- In her acceptance speech, she pledged to use her position for “good.”
- She’s long been a mentor to up-and-coming singers in country music.
It’s hard to deny that Miranda Lambert is an icon, especially now that she has not one, but two Icon Awards on her shelf. The country megastar was presented a new trophy at the 2026 Billboard Country Power Players event in Nashville on June 3 (she received the Country Icon Award at the 2024 People’s Choice Country Award, as well).
Miranda accepted her award in person, noting how thankful she is to be a part of the country music community and for their support through the “good, bad, and ugly.” She’s been a proud “member” for some time now: Her first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Country Airplay chart came in 2010 with “The House That Built Me,” followed by six more over the years.
“The House …” songwriter Tom Douglas presented Miranda with her Icon Award, calling her “the kind of tough that teaches” future generations of country stars.
“I’m trying to lift up the next generation,” she told a crowd of her peers on the rooftop of Luke Combs’ Category 10 bar in downtown Nashville on Wednesday. “Country music is my life, it’s what I’ve dedicated my entire adulthood to, and I still feel like even though I’ve been doing this for 23 years, I have 23 good ones left in me, I hope. I give my all to this.”
“Thank you for all the support all these years,” the 42-year-old added, concluding that country music is her “life” and “heart.”
Miranda is a woman of her word. She consistently acts as a mentor for country singers following in her footsteps, most often women, like Ella Langley — a rapidly rising star who reminds the Texas native of her younger self. Miranda says she tries to use her 20-plus years of experience in the country music spotlight to help the younger generation, and to “be there for them and answer questions,” she told Billboard in a May cover story. “Sometimes I know the right way to do it, because I did it wrong.”
Ella’s smash hit “Choosin’ Texas” has Miranda’s pen on it; it’s a co-write between the two women, as well as Luke Dick and Joybeth Taylor. But its success has been unprecedented, even by a writer as seasoned as Miranda.
“It was not on my bingo card for ‘Choosin’ Texas’ to take over the world. I love that song, and it so feels like such a part of me,” Miranda says in her Billboard feature. “It was one of those things where we just wrote this song we really loved, and all of a sudden...I’ve never seen anything like it.”
That kind of championing of others is what makes Miranda the artist she is 20 years into the game, and what makes her an icon. She’s busy maintaining her own career, with scattered live dates on her calendar this summer, including Alan Jackson & Friends (his final concert celebration) and Rock the Country Festival.
Amanda Hensel Jermstad is a skilled writer based in Austin, Texas. She spent 14 years as Editor-in-Chief of Taste of Country, where she led coverage of the artists, stories and trends shaping country music. With a career deeply rooted in the genre, Amanda has built a reputation for sharp editorial insight and authentic storytelling. Outside of work, she’s a proud mom of three.
