Music

Miranda Lambert songwriter was bartending while she sang his song at the Grammys

by Tyler Munro

Miranda Lambert’s “Little Red Wagon” is bubbling up the country charts, and last week it kickstarted its rise to the top when she performed it at the Grammys.

“Little Red Wagon” was originally sung by Audra Mae, a left-leaning folk punk currently signed to SideOneDummy. Mae, who co-wrote Kelly Clarkson’s Jimmy Eat World-sounding new single, co-wrote “Little Red Umbrella” with Joe Ginsberg, a career musician who, while Lambert was performing the song for more than 28 million people, was tending bar nearby.

Ginsberg was bartending the Universal Music’s Grammys afterparty at the Ace Hotel, which is about a 15 minute walk away from where the show took place at the STAPLES Center. But Ginsberg, who’s spent time in emo-outfit Single File and currently plays with Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan (Mae has also toured with Ragan), didn’t seem bitter at all.

He told Billboard that he was excited Miranda Lambert played the song on the show and even happier to learn she left the ceremony with a Grammy for Best Country Album.

Ginsberg says that he bartends at the Ace when he’s not on tour because it’s a great way to “make a little extra cash,” adding that he’s essentially “lived on the road for the past ten years.”

But with a kid on the way, he plans to cut his six-to-eight months on the road down and focus on writing more. If “Little Red Wagon” tops the charts, as some expect it will, we’d imagine those opportunities will come running. The money, according to Billboard, should eventually follow.

A publishing executive told them that if the song hits number 1 on the country charts Ginsberg, who has a 50/50 writing credit on it, can probably expect a payout “at least” in “the low six-figures. “We’re looking at least a payout in the low six-figures,” added the executive.