KACEY MUSGRAVES

REBEL BELLE

Kacey Musgraves gives mainstream country a bold new voice

by Matt Ashare |  

Posted March 27, 2013

Timing may not be everything. But it does help. And, the stars certainly seem to have aligned quite nicely for Kacey Musgraves, the 24-year-old, Texas-bred singer-songwriter who just released her eagerly anticipated major label debut, Same Trailer Different Park, on Mercury Nashville. Sure, there's always a chance Taylor Swift's perennially rocky romantic life might catapult her back into the headlines after being named Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of County Music in 2012. But, barring anything of that nature, 2013 very likely belongs to the much buzzed about Musgraves. The New York Times Sunday Magazine dedicated a four-page spread to the precocious upstart a week and a half ago. Rolling Stone has jumped on the bandwagon with a four-star review of the new album. And the folks at Slate have already wondered in virtual print if Musgraves could be the "future of country music." Hint: they hope she is. . .

      Of course, like most things Nashville, Musgraves didn't just materialize out of nowhere. Back in 2007, as the rapidly evolving legend has it, she competed in county music's awkward answer to American Idol, the thankfully defunct reality gameshow Nashville Star. She only managed to place seventh. But the experience brought her into the heart of the city that feeds Music Row's ravenous appetite for new talent. And, by 2011, she'd helped pen a minor hit for Miranda Lambert called "Mama's Broken Heart."

       Then, in September of last year, she stepped into the spotlight with her first single "Merry Go ’Round," a striking reflection on small-town life that finds a comfortable banjo-picking groove and delves earnestly into some uncomfortable observations. "If you ain't got two kids by twenty-one/You're probably gonna die alone/Least that's what tradition told you," Musgraves quietly intones, as she works her way toward the smart refrain that provided the title for the new album — "Same hurt in every heart/Same trailer, different park" — and has some incisive fun with nursery rhymes. "Mother's hooked on Mary Kay/Brother's hooked on Mary Jane/Daddy's hooked on Mary two doors down/Mary Mary quite contrary/We get bored so we get married/And just like dust we settle in this town."

       With that, Musgraves distinguished herself as a different kind of Nashville star — a provocateur with a subtle touch, down-home sensibilities, and a Millennial world view. It's probably worth noting that Musgraves was originally signed to Lost Highway, the independently minded, alt-leaning Americana label under the Universal/Mercury umbrella; that she co-wrote all of the songs on Same Trailer Different Park; and that she co-produced the album with her two songwriting partners, Luke Laird and Shane McAnally. If that's the future of country music, then it carries with it promising reminders of past glories, including the iconoclastic triumphs of Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton, not to mention the outlaws (Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson) who stormed Nashville four decades ago, and outsider troubadours like John Prine and Rodney Crowell.

       It's a bit soon to grant Musgraves membership in the legends club. But, Same Trailer Different Park truly is a remarkable collection of uncommonly insightful songwriting. Musgraves has a gift for soft-pedaling her way into hard truths, for casually turning a seemingly harmless phrase deadly, and for standing on just the right side of sentimental. She's not afraid to get a little hokey, as she does with Dolly Parton aplomb in the harmonica-accented acoustic strummer "My House," a romantic ode to the pleasures of motor-homing outfitted with a sunny singalong chorus: "So. come on, hitch your wagon/To the living room I'm dragging/If I can't bring you to my house, I'll bring my house to you."

       But it's on heavier songs like "Merry Go ’Round" that Musgraves' light touch leaves its deepest marks. "Jack and Jill went up the hill," she croons almost matter-of-factly, as the song stops around her and coasts to a close, "Jack burned out on booze and pills/And Mary had a little lamb/And Mary just don't give a damn no more. . ." She offers up another vividly dark slice of small-town life on the rockier "Blowin' Smoke," a Lucinda Williams-style bluesy romp that find her half laughing her way through catty verses like, "Brenda's traded smokes for cake/Still hasn't lost that baby weight/And that baby's ’bout to graduate from college." And, she gracefully stands her ground on the deceptively sweet sounding "Step Off," which features more banjo, some cute whistling, and artfully dispassionate kiss-offs like, "You screwed everybody over in this town/So, there ain't nothing between you and the cold hard ground."

       But the tracks that are likely to find the most traction on Same Trailer Different Park are the pair that veer off script for a mainstream country music offering, which may have something to do with why they turn up at the very end of the album. With "It Is What It Is," Musgraves delivers what might best be described as a bittersweet ode to friends-with-benefits in a tender voice that belies the implications of her intent. "I ain't got no one sleeping with me/You ain't got nowhere that you need to be/Maybe I love you/Maybe I'm just kinda bored/It is what it is ’til it ain't anymore." And she transgresses further on the hopeful "Follow Your Arrow," a playfully twangy examination of little hypocrisies ("If you won't have a drink then you're a prude/But they'll call you a drunk as soon as you down the first one") that builds to a rousing chorus that would make both Willie Nelson and Katy Perry proud. "Make lots of noise/Kiss lots of boys/Or kiss lots of girls/If that's something you're into/When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight/Roll up a joint or don't/Just follow your arrow."

       That's progressive, and promising new ground for a woman in the mainstream world of country music to stake out. But, Musgraves is standing there In a year that's seen successful pushes to legalize marijuana, and a new wave of support for same-sex marriage, Sometimes timing really does help.