LoCash Say They Had Miranda Lambert’s ‘The House That Built Me’ First [Exclusive]

One of the most recognizable country songs of the 2010s is Miranda Lambert's "The House That Built Me."

Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin wrote the song, and as the story goes, they originally pitched it to Blake Shelton before Lambert recorded it in 2009.

The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 2010 and won the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, and is now known as Lambert's signature song.

LoCash Say They Had Miranda Lambert's "The House That Built Me" First

LoCash appeared on Taste of Country Nights, where I asked them if they ever passed on a song that went on to be a hit.

The duo named "The House That Built Me."

"We had it first, we played it for a year. That was pitched to us by Tom Douglas on the piano, and we knew we wanted it. Tom has always been a good buddy and always believed in what we were doing."

"The first day that he wrote it he played it on the piano for us. We were with our lawyer, Duff Bershback, and we are sitting there and all three of us just tearing up. He [Douglas] said, 'Man, I just wrote one and I feel like you guys could deliver this kind of thing. You need this kind of thing.'"

How LoCash Missed Out on Recording Miranda Lambert's "The House That Built Me"

LoCash have receipts too when it comes to them claiming they had Lambert's "The House That Built Me" first. They said, "He [Douglas], at the Sony Firehall, right next to Sony ATV Publishing, went over there and went in a room and he played it on the piano and it was unbelievable."

The duo said at that moment they told Douglas, "'We'll take it.' We had no label or anything. We're going to put it out on absolutely nothing."

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At the end of the day, the song ultimately landed in Lambert's hands before LoCash could record it. They said, "We weren't big enough to take it from Miranda."

Country Songs Put on Hold to Record Aren't Contractually Binding

You might ask how Lambert was able to swoop in and steal a song that had already been claimed, or put on hold, for LoCash.

They explained that there is no contract that binds that in Nashville, it is based off of the old Southern handshake. "It's really up to the songwriters if they want to give it to you or not."

READ MORE: 11 Most Likable Country Stars: Singers You Can’t Help But Cheer For

My final question to them was if they, when they hear "The House That Built Me" on the radio, they get mad or turn it off.

They smiled and admitted, "Yeah. It pisses me off."