Miranda Lambert changed the entire trajectory of her career and life when she scored her first No. 1 hit in 2010, but many fans might not be aware that the song wasn't even meant for her In fact, it was originally pitched to her ex-husband, Blake Shelton.

Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin wrote "The House That Built Me," and they worked for a long time to get it right, editing out some lyrics and adding the crucial line, "If I could just come in, I swear I'll leave / I won't take nothing but a memory." They sent it to Shelton, who at that time was Lambert's boyfriend. She was present when he listened to it the first time, and the song touched on her personal history so deeply that she began to cry. She asked him if she could have the song to record instead, and the rest is history.

Rarely has a singer ever connected so strongly with a song they did not write, but in Lambert's case, "The House That Built Me" touched on themes that paralleled a period in her early life when her family were homeless before settling into an old, dilapidated farmhouse that really helped shape her view of the world.

The Crazy True Story Behind Miranda Lambert's "The House That Built Me"

Her emotional rendition of the song was her fastest-breaking single and gave Lambert her first No. 1 hit on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, where it stayed for four weeks. It won CMA Awards for Song and Music Video of the Year, ACM Awards for Song, Single Record and Video of the Year and a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, and it's hard to imagine anyone other than Lambert doing the song justice in retrospect.

That's one of the stories Taste of Country uncovered in a recent episode of The Secret History of Country Music, a video series that uncovers some of country music's greatest untold stories. Carrie UnderwoodKid Rock and Alan Jackson are among the artists already featured,  with many more to come. Be sure to subscribe to Taste of Country's YouTube channel so you never miss a new episode.

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