Kacey Musgravesis letting bygones be bygones with her new album.
TheGrammy-winning country singer, who's set to release her seventh studio album"Middle of Nowhere"in May, opened up about her collaboration withMiranda Lambertand how the song helped the singers patch things up after a rumored feud.
Musgraves' duet with Lambert, the cheekily titled "Horses and Divorces," is among the 13 tracks from her latest project, her first album since 2024's"Deeper Well."
"We'd lost touch for years and wouldn't consider each other friends," Musgraves, 37, toldNPRin an interview published Wednesday, March 11. "I saw her on Instagram one day, riding one of her horses, and I was like, 'Well, we ain't friends, but I guess we have two things in common, horses and divorces, that's for sure.'"
Lambert was married to fellow country singerBlake Sheltonfrom 2011 to 2015 before her current marriage to partner Brendan McLoughlin, while Musgravessplit from her first husband, Ruston Kelly, in 2020 after three years together.
Musgraves and Lambert first joined musical forces in the early 2010s when the "Follow Your Arrow" singer's song,"Mama's Broken Heart,"landed on Lambert's fourth album, "Four the Record."
"There was all this excitement behind 'Mama's Broken Heart' for me. It was going to be my first single, and I loved the song so much," Musgraves said. "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 want to pitch to anyone else."
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"Mama's Broken Heart" was later pitched to Lambert "without my consent or knowledge," Musgraves told NPR. Released as a single in 2013, the song peaked at No. 2 onBillboard's Hot Country Songs chart, the same year Musgraves dropped her debut album, "Same Trailer Different Park."
"It was a tricky situation," said Musgraves, who cowrote the song with Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally. "She ended up loving the song, and she really wanted it. And I had other cowriters to consider. I knew I would have to go back to the drawing board."
Despite the song dispute, Musgraves said she "randomly reached out" to Lambert when she got the idea for "Horses and Divorces," recalling her message to the singer: "'I'm not trying to be your friend. You got your life, I have mine. But I think this would be a pretty ... funny song.'"
"It was very full circle in so many ways," Musgraves continued. "We aired out any of the old laundry. We had some laughs and wrote the song in a matter of a few hours."
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In the end, Musgraves said she's "really glad" Lambert recorded "Mama's Broken Heart," as it led to the creation of her debut single "Merry Go 'Round," which became a top 10 country hit.
"['Horses and Divorces'] could be also a micro representation of what I wish that the world would do sometimes," Musgraves said. "Just ... sit down and poke fun at each other, have a beer and call it a day."
Musgraves' new album "Middle of Nowhere" will be released on May 1.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Kacey Musgraves talks Miranda Lambert duet after alleged feud