Miranda Lambert Says Husband Brendan McLoughlin Brings ‘New Joy’ to Awards Shows

Miranda Lambert has been in the country music industry for over 15 years, but lately she’s been seeing things through fresh eyes, thanks to her husband Brendan McLoughlin. Speaking to PEOPLE ahead of the ACM Awards on Sunday night, Lambert shared that having her husband attend events with her has made her appreciate them all over again.

“Every year, I can’t believe I’m still part of this and my peers still are allowing me to be in the country music family, and caring about what I do,” she said. “But it’s fun to bring a husband into this whole family that was from New York City and didn’t know a lot about country music. He gives me new joy about it because he’s kind of bright-eyed and excited and ready to have fun!” She added, “It reminds me like, how dang lucky are we?! This is really fun.”

The Texas native, who is the most decorated artist in ACM Awards history, performed three times during this year’s show and was nominated for five trophies, which meant plenty of prep time. “When we’re out here, like today, me and my manager always say we are our people, but especially right now during COVID, because you don’t get any credentials,” she said. “So like everyone does everything — I mean all hands on deck. But Brendan’s a trouper. He’s just fun, and he’s a great date, no matter what we’re doing.”

Since artists were able to bring fewer members of their team to the show and rehearsals, McLoughlin had to pull double duty. “Brendan was holding the jackets and the guitar case today, poor thing. I’m like, ‘Hey, thanks for coming to the ACMs, can you make me another drink?’” Lambert joked during rehearsals. “He loves it, actually. He’s super glam, like he’s one of these ‘Dapper Dan’ type dudes.”

She added that her husband “likes the whole glam part of it more than I do, so I think he’s a little sad that we’re not doing the whole real show thing with the red carpet, but I’m sure he’ll still show up in a tailored jacket.” The former NYPD officer did, in fact, show up in a tailored jacket, which he paired with a white t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. Lambert changed several times throughout the night but posed for photos with her husband in an all-denim ensemble with white boots and a white cowboy hat. On Monday, McLoughlin shared two photos of himself and Lambert from the show on Instagram and wrote, “Lucky to spend another great night with this beautiful woman.”