Miranda Lambert: Inside the ACM Entertainer of the Year Nominees

By Brian Ives

Miranda Lambert is a longtime fan of Beyoncé, and in 2013, she looked a bit like country music's own version of Bey.

It wasn't just that she was still promoting 2011's Four The Record, an album that seemed to have an unlimited number of hits. She reactivated her band the Pistol Annies, who released their sophomore album last year, Annie Up. And she was featured as a duet partner alongside a wide range of artists, including Willie Nelson, John Fogerty, Keith Urban and Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong. 

Like Queen Bee, Lambert expanded her brand outside of music. Her Pink Pistol boutique currently has locations in Tishomingo, Oklahoma and Lindale, Texas (sorry, they don't ship items: Miranda wants her stores to bring shoppers to those towns). She also started her own shoe line, Miranda By Miranda.

No conversation about Lambert can continue without mentioning her love for dogs. She is seemingly incapable of ignoring a canine in distress and has been known to pick up stray dogs and bring them home. But she's also started Muttnation Foundation, a non-profit that helps to fund animal shelters (and, in fact, granted a quarter of a million dollars to their "Mutts Across America" initiative, donating to 50 shelters, one in each state).

Lambert also inspired an anti-bullying campaign via her music video for her 2013 hit "All Kinds Of Kinds." Students and teachers at North Park Jr. High School in Lockport, N.Y. shot their own tribute video, which has been viewed more than 71,000 times (Miranda tweeting about it probably helped those numbers). They've since started an anti-bullying website, All Kinds of Kinds.

Watch our video feature on Miranda Lambert (above), which showcases the amazing year she had in 2013 and celebrates her Academy of Country Music Awards Entertainer of the Year nomination.

The 49th ACM Awards will be broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 6, 2014 at 8pm ET on CBS.