KACEY MUSGRAVES TOOK away the biggest award on music’s biggest night, the Grammys, this week.
Her album ‘Golden Hour’ won Album of the Year, in a night which was dominated by female musicians.
“Oh my God, it was unbelievable to be in a category with such gigantic albums, brilliant works of art,” Musgraves said at the podium.
Life is tumultuous right now, and because of that, art is really thriving. I’m very lucky to have a trustworthy team who are honest with me. I love my husband so much, and this album wouldn’t have been created without you.”
Who is she, though?
Musgraves was born in Golden, Texas in 1988. Having begun songwriting at the tender age of 8, Musgraves first got her start in the country music industry ten years later recording demos to make money. Her mam would take her to local music festivals to sing western swing music.
Shortly after, Musgraves was signed to Mercury Nashville and began supporting country heavyweights like Landy Antebellum on tour, while also writing songs for country’s First Lady, Miranda Lambert.
Within the conservative country music scene, Musgraves made an effort to stand out with progressive anthem Follow Your Arrow on her debut major label album, ‘Same Trailer, Different Park’. However, the track, which references marriage equality and marijuana smoking was practically blacklisted by country radio at the time of it’s release.
“I just hate that people are scared of it,” Musgraves told the Guardian at the time. “But I don’t want to be begging. I don’t want to be at the mercy of country radio with it. It’s gonna have its own life regardless, so I don’t really want to ask their permission.”
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Musgrave’s second album, ‘Same Trailer, Different Park’, was “more measured, reserved and conscious of its Nashville roots while continuing to rock the lyrical boat”, according to Joe Breen’s review in the Irish Times.
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Everything changed with last year’s effort, ‘Golden Hour’. The pop country crossover found itself sitting pretty atop many ‘Best Of…’ lists because of its hazy sonic landscape and Musgrave’s wistful, love-soaked lyricism. Marriage will do that to you, in fairness.
“I always think about it in the sense of Dorothy going into the colorful part of the Wizard of Oz,” she told The Fader of meeting her now husband Ruston Kelly. “Which hopefully didn’t sound too cheesy, but it’s true.”
Off the back of ‘Golden Hour’, Musgraves toured with Little Big Town, and perhaps more notably Harry Styles. It secured her position as country’s most transcendental artist.
Musgraves played Dublin’s Olympia Theatre last year in support of the album, a show which Adam Lawler described as “unreasonably affecting” and “barnstorming” within the same breath.
Going up against industry heavy weights like Drake and Cardi B is no mean feat, especially for a Texan gal who was essentially black-balled by her own genre. Musgraves is someone we should all have on our ‘must listen’ playlist.
