Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd on songwriting, finding love and creating first duet "Chasing After You"

Country music artists Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd have been making music together for years, but not like this.

"We've written a lot of songs together and for each other. But this is kind of the first time we've stepped out in this way," Hurd told "CBS This Morning" co-host Anthony Mason.

"Chasing After You" is the couple's first duet together. The song brings back memories of when they first started dating.

"It really reminded me of Ryan and my story, getting together, when we first met," Morris said.

They met as songwriters back in 2013. During their very first session, they wrote "Last Turn Home."

"It's like, 'Hey, Tim McGraw recorded this song, we should probably keep writing together," Morris recalled.

But the romantic part came much later. The pair said they wanted to avoid the cliche story of two songwriters who fall in love with each other. However, it was not long before they noticed their chemistry and connection.

"Maren is really good. That was it. I mean, I was always just in awe with the way she could sing and the way that she could write, like, just different songs than anybody else," Hurd said. "So that, I mean, that's intimidating and special at the same time."

Morris found pop success with her 2018 hit song "The Middle." She has also broken into the country charts with her number one hit, "The Bones." Hurd has written chart-topping songs for country musicians like Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, and Lady A. He said his own 2017 debut single, "Love In A Bar," came right from real life.

"'Love in A Bar' was the story of the like, the beginning of our relationship, kind of literally, every single line," Hurd recalled.

It wasn't long before the two started dating and fell in love. Hurd proposed to Morris in 2017 in a rowboat at his family's lake house in Michigan. When asked if she was expecting a ring, Morris said the proposal took her by surprise.

"I mean, not really...I was being a nightmare that weekend. I wanted to be engaged," she laughed. "I also was like, 'Well, it's Fourth of July weekend. If he doesn't propose to me this week, then he probably never will."

"I had this ring in my pocket for like a month. It was in my jeans. Like, that's some country stuff right there," Hurd said.

"And then Ryan's like, 'Oh, I think I forgot your cigarettes.' And I literally, this is what I said before I was proposed to. I said, 'Then why the hell are we out here?' And I look back, and he's on one knee...with a ring," Morris said.

They were married in 2018 and last March, their son Hayes was born. But it was a challenging birth by emergency C-section. When Morris was on "CBS This Morning" last year, she revealed she had battled postpartum depression, and at one point said to Hurd he should live somewhere else while she took care of Hayes.

Hurd said it was hard to watch her go through that.

"It was sort of like, how do I help her without agreeing with her?" Hurd said. "I'm not gonna go do that. I'm not-- I mean, I'll go sleep in this other room if you want me to, but we never even did that. ... It was just stickin' around and letting her move past that moment."

"I honestly, I watched my interview with you [CBS This Morning] back in August, and I was still in it when I was talking to you, even if it had lightened, the fog, at that point," Morris said. "I just look at how different of a woman you were talking to just, you know, six months ago. So it is crazy how it takes a while for it to lift. It's not overnight."

Hurd said it was hard to watch her go through that, and at times he felt helpless. But the couple said they're now in a much healthier place and have been spending more time with each other, and taking in every moment as a family. They are both working on new music. 

"And as much as I miss being on stage, this is the only time I'll probably ever have, you know, until I retire that I have this time to myself with my family, with my creativity, with my songs. So I'm trying to really just not take it for granted," Morris said.

"I love that you think you're gonna retire," Hurd laughed." That's.. that's never gonna happen."

"Yeah, probably not," Morris said.

Recently Morris has been vocal on social media about what's been happening in Nashville and social justice issues.

In a tweet, she addressed Morgan Wallen after a video surfaced showing him shouting a racial slur. She criticized his actions publicly writing, "It actually IS representative of our town because this isn't his first "scuffle" and he just demolished a huge streaming record last month regardless. We all know it wasn't his first time using that word. We keep them rich and protected at all costs with no recourse."

Mason also spoke with Morris and Hurd about Nashville and the state of country music. Watch more of the conversation on "CBS This Morning" next week.