Kacey Musgraves’ sister Kelly took this photo in Deep Ellum for the cover of the Middle of Nowhere album.
Coffee Talk Media / Lost Highway Records
After nearly 25 years of hustling, Kacey Musgraves headlines the 20,000-capacity American Airlines Center on Oct. 10 and 11. But her early Dallas gigs weren’t quite so grand.
Years ago, before she was famous, she followed a corny dog-eating contest on a small side stage at the State Fair of Texas.
“I was worried about how the stage would look after that,” she says with a laugh. “First, there’s a bunch of corny dogs being shoved down peoples’ throats and then ‘Here’s Kacey Musgraves!’ It was an iconic opener, really. How can you top that?”
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Humble beginnings come naturally to the singer-songwriter who grew up in Golden, a tiny East Texas town whose sign declaring it “somewhere in the middle of nowhere” inspired the title of her latest major-label album, Middle of Nowhere.
Musgraves built her career slowly, gig by gig. Her North Texas ties stretch back to the Buckaroos, the childhood group in which she and her sister Kelly performed on weekends in the Fort Worth Stockyards. Then came the corny-dog days, when she released three independent albums and worked the Texas circuit. Eventually, she made it to the peak of the Grammys, winning album of the year for 2018’s Golden Hour.
The Musgraves sisters teamed up again earlier this year in Deep Ellum, this time with Kelly behind the camera for the Middle of Nowhere album-cover shoot. The subtly absurd photo — just Kacey, a longhorn bull and a stark urban streetscape — depended on the kindness of Dallas Police officers.
“We set up quickly one morning and then here comes the police, asking if we had a permit. When we said ‘no’ they were like ‘Well, all right — do you need our help?’ They just sat, watched for a bit and then moseyed along. … It was funny.”
A mischievous streak runs through a lot of Musgraves’ work. At the AAC concert, she’ll perform “Dry Spell,” her bawdy new lament packed with double entendres. Later, she’ll sing atop a pair of giant mirrored disco globes that are anatomically hard to misinterpret.
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“We’ve really been having a ball, you could say,” she quips. “It’s actually my grandmother’s favorite part of the show.”
I spoke with the 38-year-old singer by video from a tour stop in Columbus, Ohio. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
I loved your TikTok where you dress up as an armadillo and walk into a Walmart looking for your new album. I take it you’re a ‘dillo fan?
Well, if you see one, grab one for me. It’s my ultimate dream pet. Armadillos are just so cute. They’ve got this large shell, but they look like a pig and they roll up into a ball when they’re intimidated. I can relate a lot.
“Coyote” is your latest song where animals show up like messengers (after “Cardinal” and “Butterflies”). Why do you keep returning to animals?
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With “Coyote,” I was just likening a reclusive animal to someone reticent in a relationship. I’m really inspired by the natural world, you know? I have a great spot about an hour outside of Nashville where my friends and I can jump on a horse and ride the trails and ride through the river and have a little picnic. Nature is where a lot of my ideas come from. I’m kind of a hippie in that way, where I’m able to tune into nature and get outside of myself a little bit. My sense of God is nature.
You cowrote a poignant tune about God and nature, “The Architect” (which won a Grammy last year). What response have you gotten from that song?
It’s nice. A lot of people connected with the message of that song and the bigger question marks we all have about why we’re here. Even the bad stuff that happens can make you question what is the purpose of us going through this? Is it to learn something bigger? Or is [our existence] just something random that happened? I’m always laying awake at 3 a.m., like in a wormhole, trying to figure that out.
The new album has lots of Mexican flourishes. You’ve studied Spanish, and you cover Selena songs and the Texas Tornados’ “Hey Baby Que Paso?” Do you plan to record an entire album in Spanish?
I’ve been recording some things. But I’m my own hardest critic. And not being a native speaker, there are limits to how perfect it can sound. I want to do it right. I just feel so inspired by Mexican culture. There’s a lot of kinship between traditional Mexican music and country music, and I’m really having fun exploring that. I think we, as Texans, are surrounded by such a melting pot of culture. It’s really interesting to see how even German and Czech influences came into Texas with polka music and ended up filtering down into northern Mexico and making norteño. It’s just a really great blend of a lot of different things.
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You team up with fellow East Texan Miranda Lambert for “Horses and Divorces,” a new song about finding common ground after years of friction. (Lambert scored a hit with “Mama’s Broken Heart,” which Musgraves cowrote and had hoped to record herself.) Tell me about that.
We knew each other growing up, and then we sort of went our separate ways. But as you get older, you realize you’ve got a lot less time for some of the bulls— that you would have cared more about when you were younger, you know what I mean? I reached out to her out of nowhere. We hadn’t spoken for years. And I just said, “Hey, I have this idea for a song, and honestly, if anybody would get it, it would be you.” It’s nice that we’re both in a place where we could come together one afternoon and have a lot of laughs and write a song together.
“Back on the Wagon” transcends country drinking-song tropes, since it’s sung in the voice of an optimistic enabler.
We usually hear from the drinker’s point of view. No one really hears from the other person [in the relationship]. So yeah, I’ve been that person before. It’s definitely drawing on real-life experience in a lot of ways. I think I have what they call a savior complex, so it’s something I gotta be really aware of when I get into a relationship so I’m not carrying the person to a better version of themselves.
Kacey Musgraves performs during the opening show of her Middle of Nowhere Tour on Aug. 21, 2026 at Chicago’s United Center.
Charles Reagan (After Three Media)
After Dolly Parton died, you covered her songs onstage. Did you ever get to meet her?
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Oh my gosh, yes, a few times. I was lucky. She was everything you would have thought she would be. Very down to earth, gracious, professional, funny. She’s a comedian almost over everything. And she’s so woven into the fabric of our culture in a lot of ways. She’s the closest thing we have to royalty in America. … She’s this matriarch, almost like a Mr. Rogers, but times a million. A rhinestone Mr. Rogers, if you will. I’ve been so emotional the last couple of weeks, but the one beautiful parting gift, in a way, has been the explosion of Dolly content all over social media, which has felt like a kinder, softer place. And I’m really hoping that we can keep that going.
Willie Nelson sings with you on the new “Uncertain, TX.” He’s still going strong in his 90s and …
Some days I feel like I’m 90 when I get out of bed in the morning. But yes, go on.
Even though old age is a long way off, do you think about how long you want to perform?
I mean, my whole life is marked by the creative joy I get — whether it’s designing a T-shirt or a tour or an album or working on a garden. I hope to tap into that energy as long as I live. I think, honestly, Willie touring into his 90s is what has kept him so spirited and young and energetic. I think when you stop moving and doing the things you love is when the time really sets in.
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And I know that careers ebb and flow over time. You don’t know when you’re in your peak. You just move through it the best you can. So I really like taking a moment to look around at a full arena of people who are singing your songs so loudly. I feel the gratitude because it may not always be there, you know what I mean? I’m just holding on to it while I have it and, hopefully, I’ll accept whatever comes next with grace.
Details
With opening act William Beckmann, 7:30 p.m., Oct. 10-11, American Airlines Center, 2500 Victory Ave., Dallas. $50 and up. Ticketmaster.com
Kacey Musgraves performs in Dallas on Oct. 10-11.
Kelly Christine Sutton