Miranda Lambert’s ‘Dark Bars’ Lyric Video Captures Nashville’s Desolate Bars in Pandemic
Miranda Lambert's new "Dark Bars" lyric video is a virtual tour of some of Nashville's best dive bars during a pandemic.
Through the somber song, Lambert take listeners inside the places where lonely people gather to drown their sorrows and find a sense of community. To tell this story during a time of isolation, Lambert captures many of Nashville's famous bars left desolate during the COVID-19 pandemic. The video opens with shot of the iconic "I Believe in Nashville" sign that's painted on the side of beloved local club the Basement East, which was destroyed by a tornado that struck the city in March, 2020, followed by shots of Printer's Alley, Robert's Western World on Broadway and the neon sign hanging over Loser's Bar & Grill.
An all-encompassing panned shot of an empty Broadway, neon lights glowing in the night with nary a soul in sight, add to the song's emotional nature, along with a striking photo of a vast liquor shelf where the bottles are all covered with clear plastic Solo cups, indicating they're not currently pouring. Images of boarded-up windows, empty stages and a shot of Nashville skyline at night captures the song's juxtaposition of finding community in loneliness, as Lambert's plaintive voice professes, "'Cause I know a thing or two about broke hearts / Neon truth can hit real hard / In a dark bar."
Co-written with Lori McKenna, Liz Rose and Hillary Lindsey, Lambert says the foursome wrote the song on the fire escape of her New York City apartment. "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," Lambert shares of the song's inspiration (quote via the Boot).
"Dark Bars" is featured on Lambert's 2019 chart-topping album Wildcard.
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