A SPECIAL MONDAY NIGHT "DATELINE" HODA KOTB SITS DOWN WITH MIRANDA LAMBERT

Interview Airs Monday, August 29 at 10pm ET/9pm Central

August 22, 2011 - New York, NY - In a special "Dateline," airing on Monday, August 29 at 10pm ET/9pm Central, Hoda Kotb interviews Grammy award winner Miranda Lambert. A two-part interview that includes Blake Shelton, star of NBC's "The Voice," Kotb dishes with Lambert from the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville, TN about life on the road, falling in love with Shelton and her new band.

The Pistol Annies' Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley then join Lambert as they talk about their debut album Hell on Heels dropping on Tuesday, August 23, forming the band, and collaborating with one another on song writing.

Sound bites from the interview follow. If used, must include mandatory credit with airdate:

Miranda Lambert: I've kind of been pinned as the rocker chick of country now.

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Miranda Lambert: I said I wanted to build an empire. So I started a girl band. Yeah. People think I'm crazy. They're going, you did what? It's just-- it's three artists, three artists. We're all alike in the fact that we sing about empowering women and real life.

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Hoda Kotb: So, you and Blake (Shelton) met on stage. Or you met; you met a little bit before. You get on stage and you're singing a song. And everybody who watched you two on stage that night said that there was something special there. Like you were actually watching, they thought, two people fall in love on stage right in front of their eyes. Did you feel that?

Miranda Lambert: It was a weird chemistry I've never felt before. Like, and I didn't know what to do with it. And it was my first was duo with some other country star. And I didn't know if it was just initial butterflies because of that, or what it was. It was just this draw to each other.

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Hoda Kotb: So what was it about him (Blake Shelton) that made him unique?

Miranda Lambert: The mullet. I'm just kidding. He had sort of kind of mullet at that point.

Hoda Kotb: Did you-- no, but that was a bad haircut.

Miranda Lambert: He said it wasn't a mullet.

Hoda Kotb: It was.

Miranda Lambert: I was like, if it looks like a mullet and acts like a mullet, it's a mullet.

David Corvo is the senior executive producer and Liz Cole is the executive producer of "Dateline NBC" (Fridays at 9pm and Sundays at 7pm ET). Follow "Dateline" on Facebook and Twitter @datelinenbc.