Two of country music’s finest.
Earlier this month, Kacey Musgraves released her sixth studio album Middle of Nowhere, which features the highly anticipated duet with Miranda Lambert called “Horses and Divorces,” and it marks not only a huge moment in the country genre from a purely musical standpoint, but a turn around in their personal relationship, too.
The two had a years-long feud that stemmed from Miranda’s song “Mama’s Broken Heart,” which was released as the fourth single from Lambert’s 2011 Four the Record album in 2013, and was written by Brandy Clark, Shane McAnally and of course, Kacey Musgraves. The song peaked at #2 on the U.S. Billboard Country Airplay chart and has since been certified 3× Platinum by the RIAA, which means it has moved over 1,960,000 units.
The simple version of the story goes that Miranda really wanted the song, and Kacey was reluctant to give it up, clearly knowing that it was a hit, and it was apparently pitched to Miranda without Kacey’s knowledge. Kacey wanted to use it as the lead single to her debut album, but she ended up giving it to Miranda (though she does sing background vocals on it), mostly for the sake of her co-writers because Miranda was the much bigger artist at the time. But being forced to give up her song created some resentment, understandably, that lasted for years.
Their beef also led to an iconic internet moment, which resulted from Miranda’s 2013 speech at the CMA Awards, when she won Female Vocalist of the Year, a category Kacey was also nominated in. That same year, Kacey won the CMA Awards for New Artist of the Year, and they were both also nominated for Single of the Year and Song of the Year with the aforementioned “Mama’s Broken Heart.”
The girls have known each other since 2000, being raised in towns not too far from each other and being into music from a young age, and their issues were very much real, as Kacey described their beef as “grade A, grass-fed,” so their making up and writing this song came from a very real place, and they completely buried the hatchet with their first live performance at Kacey’s recent Gruene Hall show, where she brought out Miranda as a surprise guest a few weeks ago:
@choosingwasnot Kacey Musgraves brings out Miranda Lambert (who was slated to headline Kid Rock’s MAGA concert, btw) at the final night of her Gruene Hall residency in New Braunfels, TX #kaceymusgraves #middleofnowhere ♬ original sound – mandy
And during recent interview on SiriusXM, Miranda explained that she was thrilled to perform with Kacey at Gruene Hall, a place she loves a lot, and she says “the riff came off the place” when the crowd realized they were going to sing “Horses and Divorces” together.
She explained that the “bulls***” that was around them is gone, saying they have “Kindred spirits.” Miranda and Kacey have been singing together since she was 14 and Kacey was 10, and their families actually go way back so there’s a ton of history there from not only their early days in the industry, but their childhood:
“Honestly, it was very electric. I’ve been going to Gruene Hall my entire life, every single year, my entire life, including last year to go float the river, sit in the Guadeloupe and drink a beer and go to Gruene Hall to see a show. So any opportunity I have to go there, I’m like, yes, absolutely.
Kacey was doing three nights, and we had the song together, and she was like, ‘What if you come and surprise the crowd?’ And I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m doing that.’ So we flew down, and it was really cool. Honestly, the roof came off the place. It was really healing, honestly. It was good to be back with an East Texas sister and whatever bulls*** was around is gone, you know what I mean? We have kindred spirits.
I got to see her family that night that I’ve known forever. Because Kacey and I grew up together pretty much, we’ve been singing together, knowing each other since she was like 10 and I was 14. So it’s good to rekindle that sort of flame that brought us together in the first place.”
She said that her parents had become good friends with Kacey’s grandparents back in the day, and they used to go over to their house all the time to use the karaoke machine. It sounds like it really is all “whiskey under the bridge” now, to quote them and their fabulous song:
“We were babies. I think we were doing one of the local Oprys, or Johnnie High’s or something in Dallas. Her grandparents became really great friends with my parents, they had a karaoke machine in their house, her grandparents did, so we were over there all the time singing karaoke.
People don’t know how deep the history goes with her family and my family. So having this be our water under the bridge moment, or as we say ‘Whiskey under the bridge,’ it feels really good, honestly.”
I knew they had known each other way back when, but I didn’t know how much they had performed together and how close their families were, so it has to be exciting for everyone that these two east Texas ladies are friends again and doing what they do best together now.
It’s obvious they’ve both been forces in their own respective careers, but as a duo, gosh… that’s a real force to be reckoned with, and I’m not going to get selfish or ahead of myself, but I’m just saying I wouldn’t be mad at all if this isn’t the last of what they might want to put out together with this newfound friendship… but I’m more than content with this kick*** song because it’s truly something I never thought was possible.
Turn it up:
“Horses and Divorces”
You can listen to the full interview below.
