It’s been nearly six years since Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton went their separate ways, but during their time together, the former spouses shared some special moments.
Now Lambert is opening up about one of those moments, explaining how she and her ex not only made beautiful music together, they made music that “helped his family heal” years after suffering a devastating loss.
“My ex-husband, Blake, had lost a brother, and it’s one of those moments where, even if you’re married to someone, sometimes you find something new about them,” Lambert shared in an interview with singer-songwriter and podcast host Kelleigh Bannen for Apple’s Essentials Radio. “Dudes don’t open up about things, but he started telling me about the experience of it all.”
Shelton’s older brother, Richie, died in a car accident in 1990, at the age of 24. The country crooner has said the event changed his live forever.
Given that Shelton is a prolific songwriter himself, Lambert asked him if he’d written about the painful experience. He told her he’d never made that attempt to work through his grief in song.
“He was like, 'Well, my dad just says, "You don't get over it. You just get used to it."' And I was like, 'Well, could we write it? Do you want to try or is that invasive?'" she recalled. "'I would never try to write your story because I didn’t live it, but maybe I could help because I’m an outside perspective. I feel your pain talking to me right now.'"
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That conversation led the two to sit down and pen “Over You,” a track from Lambert’s 2011 studio album, “Four the Record,” that tackles the sting of grief.
“I'll miss you/ They say I'll be OK/ But I'm not going to ever get over you,” the lyrics read.
The single went on to win Lambert and Shelton both the CMA and the ACM awards for song of the year. But looking back on the track now, that’s not what stands out for Lambert.
"It was really a special moment," she said of creating the hit. "I’m so glad we shared that song and that it helped his family heal, to have that together."
But ultimately, it’s a wound that never fully heals.
“Look, you’re never gonna get over it,” Shelton said in a 2018 interview with Cowboys & Indians magazine. “For me, my brother was my big brother. I mean, I wanted to be him. I wanted to look like him, dress like him, listen to what he listened to, and be into the things he was into. So when he was killed in a car accident, it was literally like the world went silent. There was a void in my world all of a sudden, and I’m still not over it. I’m just used to it.”