Songfacts®:

• This song finds Miranda Lambert dreaming of being a cowboy in the Wild West. She wishes to be free to blaze her own path, rolling in and out of towns, "a legend at loving and leaving."
• Lambert released the song as her first new solo material since her album Wildcard on October 1, 2019. She dropped the track quoting one of the lyrics, "If I was a cowboy, I'd be the queen."
• Lambert co-penned "If I Was a Cowboy" with a new writing partner, Jesse Frasure (Thomas Rhett, Kane Brown, Little Big Town). They first met when he did a remix of her song "Tequila Does" under his DJ name, Telemitry. "Got together one day, one afternoon for a write and this is what came out of it," said Lambert. "It's funny, he's a Detroit boy and I'm an East Texan, but somehow we wrote a song about the Wild West together, so it's pretty cool."
• The laid-back, organic production is courtesy of:
  
  Luke Dick, whose previous co-writes with Lambert include another song with a similar theme. "Highway Vagabond" is about a drifter with a restless spirit floating from city to city.
  
  Jon Randall, who recorded the Texas acoustic album The Marfa Tapes with Lambert and Jack Ingram. Released in May 2021, that record has a similar easy-going groove to this song.
• The musicians are:
  
  Acoustic guitar: Jon Randall
  Steel guitar: Al Perkins
  Electric guitar: Rob McNelley
  Bass: Ian Fitchuk
  Organ: Ian Fitchuk
  Percussion and drums: Fred Eltringham
  Background vocals: Natalie Hemby
• Director Trey Fanjoy filmed the Wild West-inspired video in small-town Texas, using real cowboys. A few of Lambert's favorite people make cameos, including her husband Brendan McLoughlin.
• The song came late in the process of writing for Palomino. Speaking to Audacy, Lambert described it as "beginner's luck" because it was the first time she'd written with Jesse Frasure and their track fit the album's vibe. "It was kind of the cherry on top, I guess," Lambert added, "and it was something that I was missing feel-wise."