After learning that the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, passed away at 76 years old in her Detroit home on Thursday due to battle with pancreatic cancer, Miranda Lambert wanted to convey her love for the late legend through a tribute performance. Lambert halted her set on the Bandwagon Tour in Buffalo, N.Y. to sing a pop country version of "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man."
Picking this song out of Franklin's endless catalog of incredible music like "Think" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" allowed Lambert to embody part of what Franklin brought to the stage with the track with soaring vocals and careful time taken to emote each note. The song feels like an emotional conversation with the audience about the power of respect and staying true to one's partner.
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"They say that it's a man's world/But you can't prove that by me/And as long as we're together baby/Show some respect for me," Franklin sings on the track which landed on the B-side of I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, her 11th studio album. It pairs well with the first track on the A-side, where the iconic "Respect" made its debut.
Later in the week, after Lambert sang the song in New York, Chris Stapleton also chose to sing the blues with "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" as his Aretha Franklin tribute. But neither of these live renditions marks the first time country singers have taken on the tune. In 1971, Brenda Lee covered the classic on her album Memphis Portrait, and in 1982, Willie Nelson recorded the track for Always On My Mind.
Country music maven Miranda Lambert will keep the American lego of the Bandwagon Tour moving alongside Little Big Town through the end of September with a couple of exciting stops in Nashville.
