<\/p>\n
Kacey Musgraves’ sister Kelly took this photo in Deep Ellum for the cover of the\u00a0Middle of Nowhere album.<\/p>\n
Coffee Talk Media \/ Lost Highway Records<\/p>\n
After nearly 25 years of hustling, Kacey Musgraves<\/a> headlines the 20,000-capacity American Airlines Center on Oct. 10 and 11. But her early Dallas gigs weren\u2019t quite so grand.\u00a0<\/p>\n Years ago, before she was famous, she followed a corny dog-eating contest on a small side stage at the State Fair of Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI was worried about how the stage would look after that,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cFirst, there\u2019s a bunch of corny dogs being shoved down peoples\u2019 throats and then \u2018Here\u2019s Kacey Musgraves!\u2019 It was an iconic opener, really. How can you top that?\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Humble beginnings come naturally to the singer-songwriter who grew up in Golden, a tiny East Texas town whose sign declaring it \u201csomewhere in the middle of nowhere\u201d inspired the title of her latest major-label album, Middle of Nowhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 Eventually, she made it to the peak of the Grammys, winning album of the year for 2018\u2019s Golden Hour<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Musgraves sisters teamed up again earlier this year in Deep Ellum<\/a>, this time with Kelly behind the camera for the Middle of Nowhere album-cover shoot. The subtly absurd photo \u2014 just Kacey, a longhorn bull and a stark urban streetscape \u2014 depended on the kindness of Dallas Police officers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe set up quickly one morning and then here comes the police, asking if we had a permit. When we said \u2018no\u2019 they were like \u2018Well, all right \u2014 do you need our help?\u2019 They just sat, watched for a bit and then moseyed along. \u2026 It was funny.\u201d<\/p>\n A mischievous streak runs through a lot of Musgraves\u2019 work. At the AAC concert, she\u2019ll perform \u201cDry Spell,\u201d her bawdy new lament packed with double entendres. Later, she\u2019ll sing atop a pair of giant mirrored disco globes that are anatomically hard to misinterpret.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe’ve really been having a ball, you could say,\u201d she quips. \u201cIt\u2019s actually my grandmother’s favorite part of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n I loved your TikTok<\/a> where you dress up as an armadillo and walk into a Walmart looking for your new album. I take it you\u2019re a ‘dillo fan?<\/p>\n Well, if you see one, grab one for me. It’s my ultimate dream pet. Armadillos are just so cute. They\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n \u201cCoyote\u201d is your latest song where animals show up like messengers (after \u201cCardinal\u201d and \u201cButterflies\u201d). Why do you keep returning to animals?<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n With \u201cCoyote,\u201d I was just likening a reclusive animal to someone reticent in a relationship. I\u2019m 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\u2019m kind of a hippie in that way, where I\u2019m able to tune into nature and get outside of myself a little bit. My sense of God is nature.<\/p>\n You\u00a0cowrote a poignant tune about God and nature, \u201cThe Architect\u201d (which won a Grammy last year). What response have you gotten from that song?<\/p>\n It\u2019s 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\u2019m always laying awake at 3 a.m., like in a wormhole, trying to figure that out.<\/p>\n The new album has lots of Mexican flourishes. You\u2019ve studied Spanish, and you cover Selena songs and the Texas Tornados\u2019 \u201cHey Baby Que Paso?\u201d Do you plan to record an entire album in Spanish?<\/p>\n 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\u2019m 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 norte\u00f1o. It’s just a really great blend of a lot of different things.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n You team up with fellow East Texan Miranda Lambert<\/a> for \u201cHorses and Divorces,\u201d a new song about finding common ground after years of friction. (Lambert scored a hit with \u201cMama\u2019s Broken Heart,\u201d which Musgraves cowrote and had hoped to record herself.) Tell me about that.<\/p>\n We knew each other growing up, and then we sort of went our separate ways. But as you get older, you realize you\u2019ve got a lot less time for some of the bulls—\u00a0that 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\u2019re both in a place where we could come together one afternoon and have a lot of laughs and write a song together.<\/p>\n \u201cBack on the Wagon\u201d transcends country drinking-song tropes, since it\u2019s sung in the voice of an optimistic enabler.<\/p>\n We usually hear from the drinker\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Kacey Musgraves performs during the opening show of her Middle of Nowhere Tour on Aug. 21, 2026 at Chicago\u2019s United Center.<\/p>\n Charles Reagan (After Three Media)<\/p>\n After Dolly Parton<\/a> died, you covered her songs onstage<\/a>. Did you ever get to meet her?<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n 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\u2019s so woven into the fabric of our culture in a lot of ways. She\u2019s the closest thing we have to royalty in America. \u2026 She’s this matriarch, almost like a Mr. Rogers, but times a million. A rhinestone Mr. Rogers, if you will. I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n