On this day in 2011, Miranda Lambert and her girl-project the Pistol Annies signed their first recording contract with RCA records.

Ashley Monroe, Angaleena Presley, and Lambert would debut their group on the National Stage earlier in the year, on April 4th, on the CBS special Academy of Country Music’s Girl’s Night Out: Superstar Women of Country.

The trio would release their debut album, Hell on Heels, in August of the same year. Pistol Annies debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard Top Country Album chart and with little to no promotion, the group also landed at #5 on the Billboard 200 Album chart.