There aren’t many country stars that have successfully crossed over into the mainstream festival circuit. The recent rise of outlaw country artists like Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, and Margo Price lends itself well to the task, but Kacey Musgraves is drawn from a different cloth, edging a little closer to mainstream country but with enough touchstones to the pop world that she can hold her own on a diverse bill. Her music has earned her both CMAs and Grammys, including the award for Country Album Of The Year in 2014 for Same Trailer Different Park and a nomination for the same award the two years later for its follow-up, Pageant Material.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Musgraves announced her next album, Golden Hour, for an early-2018 release. It’ll be her first offering since her 2016 Christmas album, A Very Kacey Christmas. Speaking with the magazine, Musgraves called the new album “trippy” and noted that it is influenced by Sade, The Bee-Gees, and Neil Young. “There are certain junctures in your life where you can’t really think your way through — you have to feel your way through,” she said of the record. “Making this album, it’s like leading heart first.”
Musgraves notes that most of the material for this record was written in the last year, a time that found her getting married to musician Ruston Kelly. She also mentions that she recorded in a studio above Sheryl Crow’s horse stable. “She has Guinness on tap, so she would have a Guinness with us,” Musgraves said of Crow. “We ended up talking about reincarnation one night and getting so heady. I was like, ‘This is amazing!’ It set the tone.”
Look for Golden Hour out early next year.
