Elle King Praises Miranda Lambert for Bringing 'Powerful Female Voices' Together in 'Time' 100 Tribute

Elle King is reflecting on her time spent with a country icon in the making: Miranda Lambert.

In a tribute for Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People of 2022" list published Monday, the 32-year-old singer-songwriter wrote about her 38-year-old "Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home)" duet partner and how their relationship has developed since King opened for Lambert on tour in 2019.

"Not a lot of people will take your hand, nudge you right into the spotlight, and share it with you — especially if they've already spent decades as one of country music's most acclaimed performers and songwriters," wrote King. "But that's exactly what Miranda Lambert did in 2019, when she asked me to be a part of her Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour, during which she brought along a new generation of artists to share her stage."

She praised Lambert's effort to highlight women in country music on the tour, which also featured Maren Morris, Pistol Annies, Tenille Townes, Caylee Hammack and Ashley McBryde throughout its run.

"It was Miranda's idea to bring us all together — she wanted powerful female voices to front the whole thing," continued the "Ex's & Oh's" hitmaker. "That's her vibe: she's all about making everybody feel welcome. And there is not one inauthentic hair on her head."

King then acknowledged that artists must "have good music" in order to offer a platform to others, writing, "And Miranda is a true country queen."

She continued, "Her shows are incredible; from start to finish, she gives it her absolute all. It was an honor to collaborate with her on our duet ["Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home)"] last year, which broke decades-long country records."

The tribute concluded with sweet details about King's personal friendship with Lambert. "...[S]he is one of the absolute funniest people I've ever met. When she and I get together, we don't lose our voices because we're singing or because we're drinking," she wrote. "It's because we laugh the whole time."

Last year, a pregnant King — who welcomed her first child, son Lucky, with fiancé Dan Tooker in September 2021 — walked the ACM Awards red carpet with Lambert and spoke to PEOPLE ahead of their "Drunk (And I Don't Wanna Go Home)" performance at the ceremony.

"It's a really sweet thing because [Miranda's] done this kind of stuff a whole bunch of times, but it's a big deal for me," she said of the performance at the time. "And to know that I could tell my kid one day I did that one cool thing and you were there — it's cool."

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"My fiancé and I are really, really excited and my family's excited," she added. "This is going to be the first grandbaby for my dad and one of many for my mom, so we just can't wait. I feel like I've done a lot of things that I shouldn't have done in my life and this feels like something that I should do."

"I just can't wait to meet them and you know, Miranda will babysit," she said before glancing over at her reluctant bestie, "or our husbands will."