6 Songs You Didn’t Know Were Written by Kacey Musgraves

Musgraves and Carter co-wrote a pair of songs that were included on Carter’s 2014 album Southern Way of Life.

Carter previously told radio.com of writing with Musgraves, “I’ll never forget the minute I walked in the door to our first writing session and she’s in the room sitting there with her guitar, and she had it in open tuning. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! This one knows what she’s doing…’ Writing with her really did remind me of the point in my 20s where I used to write totally free. I would write everything and anything, no genre. That was really exciting to walk in that room.”

Musgraves teamed with Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally to pen this smash about taking a modern approach to coping with timeless heartache. The song reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, and was nominated for song of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards, while it earned Country Music Association nominations for single of the year and music video of the year, and a Grammy nod for best country solo performance.

This song from McBride’s 2011 album Eleven was written by Musgraves with Chip Boyd and Jay Clementi. It’s a clear-eyed look at the heavy cost of trying to give too much of oneself in the process of supporting a self-destructive lover. In a 2013 interview with American Songwriter, McBride called “When You Love a Sinner” “one of my favorite songs on the record as far as songwriting. I wish I could write a song like that.”

Musgraves wrote this song with Trent Dabbs, and it was featured in season one of the country television drama Nashville, performed by Charles Esten’s character Deacon and Hayden Panettiere’s character Juliette. The song was also featured on the compilation album The Music of Nashville.

Musgraves teamed with her frequent collaborators Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark for this song on Wilson’s 2013 album Right on Time.

“I can’t believe [Kacey] didn’t want that song,” Wilson previously told Nu Country TV. “She had it on hold for her album and I had it on second hold. I was just sitting here with my fingers crossed. I thought there was no way she’s not gonna put this song on her record — it’s too good a song. When they called up and said, ‘It’s not gonna make the cut,’ I jumped for joy.”