For years, rumors swirled about a a smoldering feud between Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves, though there was never any hard and fast confirmations. Both women are from small town East Texas, with Musgraves hailing from Mineola, and Miranda from Lindale, which are only about 12 miles, and 12 minutes apart. Lambert happens to be about five years Kacey’s senior.
They also shared a close musical connection early on. Kacey’s grandmother was one of her biggest fans when Musgraves was growing up, and worked as her booking agent. “Mrs. Barbara” as she was known also helped out Miranda Lambert early on, and specifically told Lambert’s parents about auditions in Dallas for the show Nashville Star where Miranda appeared in 2003. That audition eventually led to Miranda’s Lambert’s career taking off.
But it wasn’t some Texas rivalry where Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves found friction. It actually had to do with the song “Mama’s Broken Heart”—a song Miranda Lambert recorded for her 2011 album Four The Record, and released as a single in 2013. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It also happens to be written by Kacey Musgraves, along with Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally.
When Kacey Musgraves wrote the song, she was a professional songwriter signed to a publishing deal, but was not yet trying to become a professional singer. She saw “Mama’s Broken Heart” as her potential breakout single. But unbeknownst to her, the song got pitched to Miranda who fell in love with it, and wanted to cut it. Because Lambert was the big star and Musgraves was just a writer, Miranda ended up getting her way, and Musraves ended up making a grudge.
Musgraves recently spoke to Jewly Hight of NPR about her up coming album Middle of Nowhere, and for the first time, spoke in-depth about the feud.
“It was two singers from two nearby, small Texas towns. There’s a lot that comes with that. Then we each take our own different paths, both leading us to Nashville at different times. There was all this excitement behind ‘Mama’s Broken Heart’ for me. It was gonna be my first single and I loved the song so much. I had been a staff writer for years at that point, writing for other people and had finally felt like I was collecting songs that felt like me that I didn’t wanna pitch to anyone else.”
Musgraves also said that she had to consider her co-writers Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally when conceding the single to Miranda. The success of the song really helped launch all three of their careers. And as Musgraves explains, losing “Mama’s Broken Heart” opened up another song to be her breakout, and it helped distinguish Musgraves as not just another country singer from Texas.
“I knew I would have to go back to the drawing board,” Musgraves says. “And ultimately, I’m really glad that I did, because it forced me to write ‘Merry Go Round,’ which ended up making way more sense for me anyways, aesthetically and lyrically, to kick my whole thing off … So in the end, everyone won because I was able to let go of something.”
This all leads to the fact that on the new Kacey Musgraves album, there is a song called “Horses and Divorces” featuring Miranda Lambert. According to Musgraves, one day she was scrolling through Instagram, and saw Miranda riding a horse.
“‘Well, we ain’t friends, but I guess we have two things in common, horses and divorces, that’s for sure. Wait, that could be a really funny song. What if it’s a duet with her? What if I got her to write on it?’” Kacey Musgraves though to herself. “I just randomly reached out to her and I was like, “I know we’ve had our s*** over the years, but listen, we’ve at least got two things in common.’”
Miranda Lambert divorced fellow country star Blake Shelton in 2015, and Kacey Musgraves was once married to songwriter Ruston Kelly, who she divorced in 2020.
Musgraves and Lambert then decided to get Shane McAnally involved in the writing of the song to create a full circle moment, and “Horses and Divorces” was born.
“I think it could be also a micro representation of what I wish that the world would do sometimes, just f****** sit down and poke fun at each other, have a beer and call it a day,” Musgraves says.
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