Given their high-profile beef throughout much of the 2010s, the last person we were expecting to see featured on a Kacey Musgraves album in 2026 was Miranda Lambert.

Their supposed feud stemmed from ‘Mama's Broken Heart’, which Musgraves penned in 2011 with Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark and had initially planned to release herself. Then, when she reluctantly let Lambert record the song and saw it blow up into a major hit for her fellow Texan, this reportedly led to some ill-feeling between them.

Now, in honour of Musgraves’ sixth studio album, Middle of Nowhere, the duo have finally made amends, with the two country icons penning this semi-autobiographical track with Shane McAnally. Given the fact that McAnally was involved in writing ‘Mama's Broken Heart’, this feels like a touching full-circle moment for the trio.

Based on Musgraves and Lambert's Texas heritage, we shouldn't be surprised that ‘Horses and Divorces’ is a wonderfully traditional ode. It finds the duo's charismatic Southern drawls drifting playfully across a pared-down, steel-soaked instrumental.

It sounds like it's being playing straight from a Fort Worth dance-hall, with the deliberate, undulating drum pattern combining with the steel and accordion to give this a retro ambience.

Across ‘Horses and Divorces’, Musgraves and Lambert begin by admitting they've both sent their “fair share” of thinly veiled jibes and subtle shots in the direction of the other. Now, though, the pair explain that they're bonding over a bottle of bourbon, and realising they have a lot more in common than they initially suspected.

Then we get to the amusing, tongue-in-cheek titular line, where they jubilantly remark that they've got a shared penchant for horses, divorces and drinking (“Like horses and divorces and we both like to drink / Maybe we're more alike than we think”). It's a clever nod to the fact that both Musgraves and Lambert have been through a couple of very public divorces from Ruston Kelly and Blake Shelton respectively.

As the track approaches its triumphant conclusion, the duo joke about their mutual love of “Willie”: “I can't believe we don't share any exes / 'Cause we both love cowboys and we're both from Texas / We both love Willie, but I mean really / What asshole doesn't like Willie?” Given the tone of Musgraves’ lead single, ‘Dry Spell’, this is probably an innuendo - but we agree, who the heck doesn't like Willie Nelson?!

During an interview with Variety, Musgraves confirmed she and Lambert had “grass-fed, grade A” level beef for many years, but thankfully decided to recently squash it.

Musgraves explains, “I mean, it’s real and that’s why I love this song, because it’s not coming from some contrived place in a writing room. We’ve come together after years of really, honestly, not being friends. I had this idea one day when I saw her on Instagram, riding one of her horses, and I thought, ‘Well, I guess we have two things in common: horses and divorces.’ And I was like, ‘Wait, that’s a song.’ Then I took it a step further: ‘What if I write it with her? What if it’s a duet? F*** it, I’m gonna reach out.’ I hadn’t spoken to her in years and was like, ‘Hey, I have this idea. If anybody would get it, it would be you. We’ve had our s*** over the years, but this would be really funny.’ And she was like, ‘I’m down.’ I was like, ‘Look, I’m not trying to be your friend, but we should write this song at least.'”

The ‘Follow Your Arrow’ hitmaker adds how Lambert addressed the origin of their feud, ‘Mama's Broken Heart’, which Musgraves wrote and reluctantly let Lambert record, “In our writing session, Miranda said, ‘Hey, I wouldn’t have the career that I have without [‘Mama’s Broken Heart’], and I’m really grateful for it’. So it was very full circle…It was a plot twist that even I did not see coming, so it really surprised me too. We talked about everything, and we’re both older now and have less energy for dumb s***. I don’t love having weirdness with anyone out there”.

“You know that I've said some things about you
And I've done my fair share of shit talkin' too
Both sides of the fences, I've gotten defensive
There's always two sides of the truth
-
Hell just froze over
'Cause we're both at the bottom of the bottle and we're findin'
We've got a few things in common
Like horses and divorces and we both like to drink
Maybe we're more alike than we think
-
I'd ride in on my high horse, you'd still be higher
And a few years ago, you'd have set me on fire
There were chips on our shoulders, but now that we're older
It's all whiskey under the bridge
-
Hell just froze over
'Cause we're both at the bottom of the bottle and we're findin'
We've got a few things in common
Like horses and divorces and we both like to drink
Maybe we're more alike than we think
-
I can't believe we don't share any exes
'Cause we both love cowboys and we're both from Texas
We both love Willie, but I mean really
What asshole doesn't like Willie?
-
Hell just froze over
'Cause we're both at the bottom of the bottle and we're findin'
We've got a few things in common
Like horses and divorces and we both like to drink
(And smoke and cuss and drink)
Maybe we're more alike than we think”

For more on Kacey Musgraves, see below:

Kacey Musgraves

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Miranda Lambert

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