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.
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. – – – – – – – –
I never knew there was any friction between Kacey and Miranda. Horses and Divorces is a catchy title. Their voices are quite different so I’m curious how that will play out on the song.
Yes, when the song title was first referenced in this article, I assumed the song was Slaid’s. Then she mentioned Miranda writing on it, so I thought perhaps a slight re-write of the SC song.
The Slaid Cleaves song is called “Horses,” not “Horses and Divorces,” and I’ve always taken it as a Willie Nelson tribute. I’d say let’s just be a little patient until we hear the song before we decide one song is a rip off or a rewrite of the other.
I also never knew these two had a “feud” going on. Probably a lot, lot, lot easier to “forgive and forget” when both artists have come to the realization that their days of being big radio artists are over and both can comfortably settle in to releasing music aimed at their respective fans and move along with the potential “pettiness” associated when trying to climb to the peak of radio cycle.
Source: savingcountrymusic.com