Trannie Anderson got to “express my creativity in ways I haven’t yet,” when she released her first-ever songwriter album, Heart Like a Songwriter.

It’s been about a decade since Anderson packed up her truck, left her Texas hometown and embarked on a 12-hour road trip to Nashville, Tennessee, she shared in a poem included on her album. Since then, she's opened up about a journey has taken her on a series of twists and turns, overcoming obstacles in some moments and catapulting to euphoric successes in others. That 10-year trajectory has led her to a fresh chapter filled with “firsts.”

Many country music listeners likely know Anderson for penning hits with reigning Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year Lainey Wilson, including “Heart Like a Truck,” “Whirlwind” and more. She's also written songs recorded by Reba McEntire, George Birge, Dylan Scott, Pricilla Block and other artists. Now, she’s introducing herself in a new way with Heart Like a Songwriter, a 10-track album that she’s “always wanted” to release.

‘Heart Like a Songwriter’

Anderson’s debut songwriter album includes hits that many listeners will already know and love (including “Heart Like a Truck” and “Wildflowers and Wild Horses,” both of which appear on Lainey Wilson’s Grammy-winning record, Bell Bottom Country, plus “It Won’t Be Long,” which Birge debuted in 2025). The Texas-born hitmaker also included “a few uncut songs that I love, that I would love for other artists to hear and maybe record, too.” The the album includes Anderson’s renditions of “Girl with Her Guard Up,” which she wrote with Gordie Sampson and Lori McKenna, “No Good Reason,” written with duet partner Jordan Walker and Jacob Rice, and “Bigger Picture,” written with Paul Sikes, Devin Dawson and Andy Albert. Between tracks, Anderson recorded spoken-word poems that tell more of her story and her inspiration behind the songs. The seasoned songwriter admitted it was a challenge in itself to select just a few of her songs to include on her first-ever album; however, this selection “felt really honest.”

“Songwriting is just my first love forever and ever and ever. And so, I wanted this project to feel almost like a writer’s round and like a cup of coffee with me,” Anderson told iHeartCountry of Heart Like a Songwriter. She hopes the album will let listeners “know me on a deeper level. …I feel differently and more passionate about them [these songs] after having that experience, and I’m excited to do it more.

“The reason I write music is to, first of all, make an impact, either on whoever hears the song or whichever artist I’m writing with and helping tell their story,” Anderson said. “My heart in any write I’m ever in, or any song I’m ever a part of, to say something that matters and to really help people through music. …That is absolutely my favorite part of my job, that creativity can be so healing and so fruitful in that way for your soul.”

The Heart Wranglers

Anderson has often expressed her creativity with Lainey Wilson and fellow songwriter Dallas Wilson (no relation). She met the Baskin, Louisiana-born artist through a mutual friend about two weeks after she moved to Nashville, and met Dallas Wilson about two years after making the move to Music City. The trio began writing music together in 2020, and the first song they wrote together was “Heart Like a Truck.” Anderson said “we just knew that we had a special, creative connection.” They began calling themselves the Heart Wranglers, inspired by a songwriting retreat, riding horses in Wickenburg, Arizona. Now, Lainey Wilson has recorded more than 20 songs written by the Heart Wranglers, including her latest No. 1 single, “Somewhere Over Laredo,” written with Andy Albert. Anderson said it’s “pretty wild, and we’re very thankful that the Lord keeps showing up when the three of us are together trying to make something up.”

Anderson's Whirlwind Season of 'Firsts'

Anderson is embracing a season of “firsts.” One day after she released her debut songwriter project, the powerhouse songwriter made her Grand Ole Opry debut at the annual Opry Goes Dolly event, celebrating beloved legend Dolly Parton’s 80th birthday. Anderson wrote in a caption on Instagram that she’s “still pinching myself” over the Opry show, which included Lainey Wilson and others in the lineup.

Anderson told iHeartCountry ahead of the performance that she “would’ve never dreamed that I would get to play the Grand Ole Opry. Songwriters don’t play it that much; you know what I mean? Sometimes they do, but that wasn’t something I expected until later.” Anderson remembered one day, walking through the back entrance of the Opry with her husband, she felt a sense that “someday, I’m going to play here.” About a week later, while writing music with the Heart Wranglers on the road, Lainey Wilson picked up her guitar and revealed — in song and captured on camera — that Anderson was invited to make her Opry debut. Anderson said she “was completely shocked. I immediately started crying. …It was such an amazing surprise.”

Next, Anderson is getting ready to attend the 2026 Grammy Awards as a first-time nominee. Anderson, Albert, Lainey Wilson and Dallas Wilson are nominated in the Best Country Song category for “Somewhere Over Laredo.” It’ll be the first time she walks the red carpet with her husband and her OBGYN as she gets ready to welcome her first child, due “literally nine days” after the Grammys. Anderson opened up about pregnancy loss on Heart Like a Songwriter and in a recent press event with her “Somewhere Over Laredo” co-writers in Nashville. It was “the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through.” She and her husband prayed for their rainbow baby, “the baby you have after a loss, and it’s like God’s promise after you go through a storm. And I kid y’all not that the week this song [‘Somewhere Over Laredo’] came out and went to country radio is the week I got pregnant with my rainbow baby.”

Heart Full of ‘Gratitude’

“First of all, I feel Trannie knows me better than I know myself half the time. My advice for her is – well, it’s something that she already does,” Lainey Wilson said when asked whether she had any advice for Anderson ahead of Heart Like A Songwriter’s release. “She speaks directly from her heart and her soul. …Trusting your instinct. She comes to the table more than prepared, and I think she’s going to be doing the same thing as she steps into that artistry thing, too. All you have to do is be you and let the love of Jesus shine through your heart like you always do, so I’m not worried about her.”

Anderson reflected on the past decade of her life — including with the recent 2016 social media trend — with “gratitude.” She admitted it felt emotional to reminisce on her 2016 self, “who is honestly a very similar person, but, you know, at that point, my dreams hadn’t come true.” Rather than writing music with country artists, Anderson was running a dog-sitting company and caring for artists’ pets while they played shows on tour. “If I could tell her, ‘hey, Trannie, some of those artists that you’re picking up their dog’s poop right now, you’re going to have songs on their record. And they’re going to be your friends, and everything that you moved to Nashville to do is going to happen.’ Cliché, but I don’t think I would’ve believed myself. What has happened in my songwriting journey so far has exceeded my dreams, frankly, so I’m just extremely thankful for that.

“(I’m) excited to walk into this next season of motherhood and see how that changes how I’m thinking about writing, and what I’m writing about,” she told iHeartCountry about her next chapter in her life and career. “Every songwriter and artist that has kids tells me, ‘Trannie, you’re going to be a better songwriter because of your son,’ so I’m really excited to step into that and love him the best I can and keep writing hit songs.”

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Corey Calhoun