Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert performed their new duet during a surprise moment in New Braunfels, Texas.

The two country stars took the iconic Gruene Hall stage with a live debut of “Horses and Divorces.” The pair teamed up with award-winning songwriter Shane McAnally to write the unlikely collaboration, which appears on Musgraves’ sixth studio album, Middle of Nowhere. Musgraves confirmed in a recent interview with Variety, “oh, there was [real beef between the two artists]. It was grass-fed, grade A.

“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,” she continued in the interview. “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 shit 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.’ So it was a late addition, the last song added [to Middle of Nowhere].”

Despite years of having beef with one another, Musgraves and Lambert — who’s releasing her own country-disco single on May 15 — acknowledge that “maybe we’re more alike than we think,” in the lyrics of “Horses and Divorces.” It’s one of four collaborations on Musgraves’ newest studio record, along with tracks featuring Gregory Alan Isakov, Billy Strings and Willie Nelson. Musgraves’ highly-anticipated Middle of Nowhere follows 2024’s Deeper Well, 2021’s star-crossed, 2018’s Golden Hour, 2015’s Pageant Material and 2013’s Same Trailer Different Park. Musgraves is bringing the “Middle of Nowhere” to fans on her headlining tour later this year, featuring Midland, Carter Faith, Flatland Cavalry and Charles Wesley Godwin on select dates. Tickets are available at 10 a.m. local time on Friday (May 8).

Listen to Middle of Nowhere on iHeartRadio here.

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