Jana Kramer Says Her New Song Was Inspired by Her Husband's Reaction to Her 'Abusive Relationships' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Allan Russell and Jana Kramer.Photo: Joe Scarnici/Getty

Despite her painful past,Jana Kramerhas never given up on finding lasting love.

The country singer, 40, released her latest single “Warrior” on Sept. 13, and she tells PEOPLE exclusively that writing a track for her husbandAlan Russell, 43, was something that she’d been thinking about doing for a while.

“I just wanted to write him a song to basically be like, ‘Thank you for just being the most wonderful man and for coming into my life,'” says Kramer,who married Russell on July 13 in Scotland. “He has a tattoo on his arm. He calls me his little warrior, and I just kept seeing the title ‘Warrior.'”

Jana Kramer and Alan Russell during their wedding in Scotland, July 2024.Craig & Eva Sanders Photography

Craig & Eva Sanders Photography

The song, which Kramer wrote with Sara Brice — fellow country singer Lee Brice’s wife — helped Kramer realize that she was no longer “in crisis mode anymore.”

“I’ve been in crisis mode for so many years, and now I get to be happy and have love in my life and it’s a beautiful place to be,” says Kramer, who welcomed a son, Roman, with Russell in November 2023. (She’s also mom to daughter Jolie, 8, and Jace, 5, from her previous marriage toMike Caussin, who hasbeen “really cool” as a coparent, she said previously.)

In 2017Kramer opened up to PEOPLE about her marriage to Michael Gambino,whom she wed in 2004, sharing that Gambino physically abused her. He was later convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to six years in prison.

“[Alan’s] tattoo says, ‘Jana my little warrior.’ When we first started dating and I told him about my past and being in abusive relationships, a lot of times, the reaction from men were nowhere near his,” Kramer says. “[Alan] looked at me and he’s like, ‘You’re a warrior.’ And for me, he made me feel powerful in a very broken story.”

The morning of, however, Kramer surprised Russell with the song.

“It was really sweet. He got teary-eyed and he wiped away a single masculine tear, is what he likes to call it. But it meant a lot to him, and he has a past too,” says Kramer. “We all have a story, and I think the fact that he’s allowed love into his life again, too, it’s repaving broken roads, and he definitely felt that. So, he loved it.”

The project is Kramer’s “thank you,” she says.

Art for Jana Kramer’s new single ‘Warrior’.Craig & Eva Sanders Photography

“Where I saw broken, he saw beautiful, and where I felt weak, he believed I was strong. He’s always helping me be the warrior and for that, I will fight for him and fight for us ‘til the end.”

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And though the podcast host and mom of three does have plans for more music later this year, she’s mainly focusing on the people who make her happiest.

“I really want to do things that I love and make sure I’m with my kids as much as possible while they’re young,” she says. “They’re just really beautiful, lovely, kind children and their hearts are amazing and I love them. I love being a mom. I really do.”

source: people.com