Kacey Musgraves’ Grandma Encouraged Miranda Lambert’s Parents To Take Her To ‘Nashville Star’ Audition Way Back In 2003

These two go way back. Of course, Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert are two of the most successful mainstream country artists to come from Texas and really make it in Nashville in the last 10 to 20 years, and in fact, their families knew each other before either one of them ever cut their debut record. Kacey often explains interview that her grandma was her first booking agent, and was never afraid to call up anyone in the Lone Star state and tell them her granddaughter needed to perform. But Mrs. Barbara also helped out a young Miranda back in the day, and was the reason Miranda ever tried out for Nashville Star , which ultimately landed her the first first record deal of her now-highly successful career. Kacey and Miranda are both from East Texas, and grew up about 20 minutes apart, Kacey being from Golden and Miranda being from Lindale. In an interview with Texas Monthly ahead of the release of her Postcards From Texas album tomorrow, Miranda recalled what Barbara told her parents, Rick and Beverly, about the show holding Dallas auditions in 2003 (which Kacey also appeared on a little bit later in 2007): "I think this would be great for Miranda." Miranda came in third, but like I said, she wound up with a record deal and ultimately recorded her debut album, Kerosene , which was released in 2005. She remembered being scared to make the leap and go all-in on Nashville, because at the time in Texas, that was frowned upon and she didn't know if it was the right move: "I was coming up at that time where it was sort of, like, middle finger to Nashville. And it scared me to death. I was like, ‘Why do I have to pick one?’ " Miranda played in plenty of honky tonks while getting her start too, and she remembers many occasions where people at the bars would straight up tell her mom that they "don't hire girls," so her dad would slip them a $50 to get her up onstage anyways: "They would flat out tell my mom, ‘Well, we don’t hire girls. Girls don’t draw. My dad was giving people fifty bucks to let me get onstage." The rest, as they say, is history. Kacey and Miranda honestly haven't worked together much since their respective careers have taken off (sadly, because I need that in my life), but Kacey did write Miranda's hit song "Mama's Broken Heart." And on Nashville Star so many years ago, Miranda stunned the audience with a performance of an original she co-wrote with her dad, titled "Greyhound Bound For Nowhere," which was later included on Kerosene . It was a song about someone having an affair with a married person, and in the introduction, Miranda says people don't take her seriously since she hasn't "been through a whole lot of tough times" throughout her life. However, her parents jobs as private investigators had exposed her to a lot of other people's hard times. And while Miranda has definitely had her fair share of tough times since then, her performance was no less convincing at the time. I just think it's so cool that Kacey's grandma encouraged Miranda to do the audition, clearly seeing first what we've all seen for 20 years now, and knowing how both of their careers have turned out makes it all the more special. Mrs. Barbara sounds like a smart lady, indeed... and most grandma's are. Here's Miranda's audition for the show:

Miranda Lambert Performs "Texas (When I Die)" on Nashville Star. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fqzvgAgUqQ&