Songwriter Trannie Anderson was driving to go deer hunting when she found out she’d landed her first Grammy nomination, earning a nod for best country song for Lainey Wilson’s “Somewhere Over Laredo,” which Wilson wrote with Anderson, Andy Albert and Dallas Wilson.
“I didn’t really have any [cell] reception,” Anderson recalls to Billboard. “I couldn’t even get the live stream to work. Lainey texted us and I legitimately had to pull over to the side of the road and I was just sobbing. It was very special. It was bigger than I dreamed—and I got a deer that weekend, too, so it was pretty much the best weekend, ever.”
Anderson has co-written nearly a dozen songs that have populated Lainey’s two CMA album of the year-winners Bell Bottom Country and Whirlwind, including the Country Airplay No. 1 “Somewhere Over Laredo” and top 5 hits “Heart Like a Truck,” and “Wildflowers and Wild Horses.” Cole Swindell, Gabby Barrett, Madeline Edwards and Nate Smith have also recorded her songs.
Anderson highlights a wider scope of her songwriting range on her full-fledged songwriter project, Heart Like a Songwriter, out Friday (Jan. 16).
Heart Like a Songwriter blends poems and music, including Anderson’s renditions of “Heart Like a Truck,” and “Wildflowers and Wild Horses,” pairing songs with poems that explain the inspirations behind them. She also includes uncut originals such as “Bigger Picture” and “No Good Reason.”
“I wanted to pick songs that I felt have really showcased my own personal songwriting voice in a unique way over the past 10 years,” Anderson says. “My goal with the whole project and the songs I picked, I’m not trying to get a record deal. I’m not trying to push an artist project at all, I just want to include songs that introduce who I am as a songwriter. I want it to feel like somebody just had a two-hour cup of coffee with me.”
The album arrives at a confluence of professional and personal milestones for Anderson. The day following her album release, Anderson will step into the coveted Grand Ole Opry circle to make her Grand Ole Opry debut. Next month, she’ll celebrate her first Grammy Awards as a nominee.
As she gears up for these career highlights, Anderson is also expecting the arrival of her first son, Arch, in mid-February. “I think the whole time that God knew that was the right timing for all of it and just a really cool way to bring my son into the world,” she says. “I’m crossing my fingers and bartering with him in my belly right now, like ‘Alright, Arch, I need to you wait to until at least after Feb. 3.”
She previews Heart Like a Songwriter with the original song, “Girl With Her Guard Up,” written with Gordie Sampson and Lori McKenna. The song was inspired by surviving a toxic relationship, and then finding a true-hearted love that crumbles emotional walls.
“Lori and Gordie are incredible and heroes of mine. I was writing with two legends that day,” Anderson recalls of writing “Girl with Her Guard Up.” “It’s fun to just kind of write whatever feels good and write whatever is honest between the three of you. It was such an easy write because both of them are pretty adventurous with chords and just writing on that left-of-center edge of country a bit, too. I got to pull out my Sara Bareilles and Carole King roots a bit.”
Waco, Texas native Anderson studied entrepreneurship at Baylor University, and moved to Nashville just over a decade ago. She met Wilson over coffee not long after arriving in town. Anderson signed a co-publishing deal with Sony Music Nashville in 2018.
Heart Like A Songwriter takes its title inspiration from “Heart Like a Truck,” Wilson’s 2023 Nashville Songwriters Assn. International song of the year winner and CMA song of the year nominee. Anderson wrote “Heart Like a Truck” with Lainey Wilson and Dallas Wilson, crafting a song that inspired the trio to brand themselves The Heart Wranglers.
“We picked that name because we’re just trying to write something that really does come from the heart,” Anderson says. “The first retreat we ever went on was on a dude ranch in Arizona. We rode horses and got to be cowboys for about five days. Our writing felt like cowboy songs with heart in them.”
The Heart Wranglers follow in the footsteps of other songwriting teams who have helped further promote their work through a fun moniker, such as The Love Junkies (Liz Rose, Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsey) and The Peach Pickers (Dallas Davidson, Rhett Akins and Ben Hayslip). Much like her work as part of The Heart Wranglers, her new album further highlights her brand as a songwriter.
Numerous songwriters have put out their own projects over the years with songs that have caught the ear of artists who record their own versions. Such was the case in 2013, when Jake Owen released a version of “What We Ain’t Got,” which songwriter Travis Meadows had included on his 2011 Killin’ Uncle Buzzy album. The songs on Heart Like A Songwriter could follow that path.
“I’ve been here for a long time, but there are plenty of people in the industry and plenty of artists that just know me at a surface level. Hopefully some of the songs I’m putting out myself, other artists will want to record or be interested in writing. My main hope with this project is to let the town know me on a deeper level, to let people know my heart a little bit better,” Anderson says.
As she prepares for an excitement-filled next few weeks, Anderson says she’s grateful for the way her journey has unfolded.
“All this stuff has come together for me in a really organic way and nothing about it feels forced. I think it’s just following the doors that open and the yeses that feel right. I get to bring my son into the world feeling very proud of a record that I’ve made, and very proud of a 10-year season in my career that has been more blessed than I deserve.”
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