Miranda Lambert Says She Watched Husband Brendan McLoughlin ‘Learn to Be Vulnerable’ Writing a Song Together (Exclusive)

The country star and her husband co-wrote "Dammit Randy" forher new album 'Postcards from Texas,' which dropped Sept. 13

• Miranda Lambert released her ninth major-label studio album, Postcards from Texas, on Friday, Sept. 13

• Her husband Brendan McLoughlin, a retired police officer, co-wrote "Dammit Randy," which appears on the record

• The pair married in 2019

Miranda Lambert's new album was a family affair.

The country music icon released her ninth major-label album, Postcards from Texas, on Friday, Sept. 13, and there's a special collaborator listed in the credits: her husband, Brendan McLoughlin.

Lambert, 40, and McLoughlin, 32, co-wrote her new song "Dammit Randy" with her frequent collaborator Jon Randall.

The performer first did some casual writing with McLoughlin — a retired NYPD officer — during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, she tells PEOPLE: "We were writing songs and baking cookies and just keeping ourselves busy, but he was pretty good."

Then as she began to focus on working on Postcards from Texas, "Jon Randall picked up a guitar. When that happens, Jon and I usually write a song," Lambert says. "and Brendan was in the room and he kept popping in. I was like, 'All right. If you're going to do this, you got to turn that football game off, and we're going to do it.' He did, and he's done a couple of other co-writes with me."

Related: Miranda Lambert Announces New Album Postcards from Texas as She Unveils Divorce Anthem 'Alimony'

"Dammit Randy" is the first of their collaborations that she's released, and it came together organically.

"When you're writing about something that you've been talking about and that you've been going through in your life, no one better to have insight on that than your partner at home," Lambert says. "They're living it with you. So, it was the perfect song for him to collaborate on."

As for whether McLoughlin has his own Nashville career in the cards, "The true test is if I'm not in the room," Lambert says, quipping: "So, we'll see what happens if he goes out on his own. We'll see. I'm on the edge of my seat!" More seriously, she adds, "It's fun. He's really proud of it, and I'm really proud of him."

Related: Miranda Lambert Reveals Her One Marriage Rule with Husband Brendan McLoughlin (Exclusive)

Lambert says watching McLoughlin learn about songwriting brought her back to basics.

"It made me remember that it isn't easy; it's not as easy as it looks. It's putting your heart out there and being vulnerable," the "Alimony" singer says of her husband, whom she wed in 2019. "I think watching him learn like, 'Oh yeah. This is vulnerable. I'm saying my thoughts in this room.' People can laugh all day and say no dumb ideas, but that's not true. You know what I mean? Sometimes you say something, you're like, 'Ooh, that wasn't very good. I shouldn't have said that.' I think watching him learn to be vulnerable was really cool."

Lambert also revisited her Texas roots by returning to her home state to record her first album there in 22 years.

"It's full-circle to me," she says. "It feels like going home to launch this new chapter."

Indeed, Lambert's writing on Postcards from Texas pays homage to some of her country forefathers from the Lone Star State.

Related: Miranda Lambert and Brendan McLoughlin Get 'Gussied Up' in Matching Black Suits for 2024 MTV VMAs Date Night

"I think Willie [Nelson] and Waylon [Jennings] and the boys started this trend where it was just, 'we are who we are,' and it was really truth-telling. It was really an outlaw movement, but they were just being themselves, and they weren't getting accepted in any other ways except for at home," Lambert says of outlaw country's Texas roots. "I think that's just what started that mentality for us. It's this pride in this, and because it's such a cultivated artistic community there, there's so many places to play. You can actually get your feet under you when you're touring around Texas because there's so many live music venues."

And while Lambert wouldn't call herself an outlaw, per se, "I just feel like I am lucky enough that I did believe in being authentic, and I still do," she says. "I did it my way even though it was harder sometimes."

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