You Know Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert, but Do You Know the Man Who Helped Build Both Their Careers?

Behind every musical star like Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert, there is a team of professionals supporting the artists as they write, record, tour, promote, and more. From managers to public relations reps to the roadies, building up the music industry’s next big thing takes a village.

For Musgraves and Lambert, their villages were about 20 minutes away from each other in East Texas. As aspiring musicians in Golden and Lindale, Texas, respectively, Musgraves and Lambert laid the groundwork for their careers to come with the same guitar teacher.

Impressively, these aren’t the only two stars this teacher taught.

The Man Behind Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert’s Musicianship

Before they were country stars known worldwide, Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert were hopeful guitar students living in small towns in East Texas. Musgraves grew up in Golden, an unincorporated community of around 200 people, and Lambert’s hometown was about 20 minutes away in Lindale, a “bigger” town of around 6,000. When the time came for these future superstars to study their instruments seriously, they both opted for the nearby DeFoore Music Institute in Mineola.

Guitarist and songwriter John DeFoore, Jr., was the namesake and founder of the East Texas music school, teaching countless guitarists over his decades-long career. DeFoore studied music in London in the 1960s, earning money by playing in house bands and writing commercial jingles. He later returned to the States, playing around the country with musicians Tim Holiday, Adam Carroll, Randy Brown, and Dirje Smith. He bought a hotel in the late 1980s, transforming it into a venue called the Piney Woods Pickin’ Parlor.

DeFoore eventually founded the DeFoore Music Institute in Mineola, Texas, which would become the early stomping grounds of many soon-to-be stars. Notable past students include Musgraves, Lambert, and American Idol contestant Riley Thompson. While these DeFoore alumni’s professional paths have unfolded in unique ways, including their own specific timelines, the common thread leading back to DeFoore is a testament to their musical ethos, commitment to their craft, and a fascinating insight into just how small of a world the music industry can really be.

John DeFoore Helped His Students Find Their Songwriting Voice

A teacher-student lineage can reveal just as much about a songwriter as the songs themselves. Indeed, as any current or former music student knows, the right instructor can instill deep values and beliefs that permeate your art for the rest of your life. Alums of the same teacher can use these values and beliefs to find common ground with one another, something indicative of Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert’s distinctive approach to their music.

Musgraves and Lambert’s guitar teacher, John DeFoore, Jr., passed away in August 2021 at his home in Grand Saline, Texas. He left behind a sprawling legacy of musical students, some of whom have gained international stardom, like Musgraves and Lambert. DeFoore’s obituary alludes to the ethos he instilled in all his students, superstars or not.

“John was the type of teacher all teachers should be. He was patient and encouraging to all his students, regardless of age. John’s approach to teaching did not focus on chords and scales but rather songwriting. The important thing to John was that his students have a good time playing and enjoy music. It did not matter what genre, country, rock, pop, blues, emo, etc., John was prepared and equipped to teach them all.”

“John always took his role as a teacher and mentor seriously,” the obituary continued. “He guided his students to not write what everyone else wrote but to write what they feel and what matters to them. Write from the heart.”

(Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for BT PR)