Kacey Musgraves (2016)

One Liner: Bad ass country chick with legit lyrics and cool sound

Poster Position: 6
Slot: Somebody crazy put her at 2 o'clock on Sunday.

Thoughts:  I've written about her several times before.  Not sure if I need to say more than I have. Her last album was top ten for me last year.  In my review of it, I noted how amazingly badass her cover/duet with Willie is for "Are You Sure," and here it is again, just because I think it should be heard as much as possible.

Man, I love that tune.  Too bad that Willie isn't playing Weekend One so that he could come along with her on Sunday morning and crank this up.  I'd die happy (well, hopefully in like another 50 years).
If you haven't heard of her already, then you are dumb.  Well, just uninformed and stupid, maybe you aren't dumb.  Sorry if that came off as rude.  Texas girl ("girl from Golden"), who first really came out in the public eye when she was on Nashville Star, which is apparently like American Idol but for country types.  She didn't win, but that exposure led to a record deal and she put out the excellent Same Trailer Different Park in 2013.  The best tune from that one is only her second most popular track on Spotify from the album, but I think the lyrics are fantastic. 20.0 million streams.

"Just like dust, we settle in this town."  And the light touch of the banjo, I don't know, this song just hits all the right notes for me.  And the other hit from this album, "Follow Your Arrow," which has 20.6 million streams, is also a kick ass empowerment/do yo thing track.

Its a simple construct, but I love when she tells you to roll up a joint, and then says "or don't" or "I would," with a smile in her voice.  Her voice is damn pretty, and she just sounds friendly.  This song is also great because of how it blows up the normal country paradigm of 'MERICA and "party with my bros" and "ain't got time for no queers" and all of that which is normally firing out of Nashville all day.  Loads of other good songs on that first album, "Blowin' Smoke," "Keep It To Yourself," or "Back on the Map" come to mind. Great disc.  She was nominated for a bunch of Country Music Awards and Grammy's that year, and took home the Grammy for Best Country Song ("Follow Your Arrow") and Best Country Album.

Fast forward to 2015 and she released Pageant Material to more accolades and more great lyrics that stray from the normal and keep the music real and fun.  The big single from the album, which sounded cheesy to me at first, has now come around in my mind so that I sing along with it in my head at random times, is "Biscuits."

Good sentiment.  Fine song.  14.4 million streams.  Something else I haven't mentioned, I don't know who the dudes in the band are (they don't get a mention on Wikipedia) but they rule as well.  Great players, don't get in the way, just make straight-forward tunes that showcase the star.  Also on this album, I love "Late to the Party" and "Dime Store Cowgirl."

This album kept me company this summer while driving from Colorado back to Texas in August, while the rest of my family slept in the early morning and I popped in headphones to move on down the road.  Right in between Helmet and A$AP Rocky, ol' Kacey kept me company.  I hadn't really even noticed it before, but "Good Ol' Boys Club" has a nice dig it that hadn't dawned on me before in many listens, but clicked while the music was about all that I had in my mind that morning.  The song is about the music industry and how crappy it is that people who know people can get a leg up on real talent, and one of the lines says "“Another gear in a big machine, don’t sound like fun to me.”  Big Machine is a record label in Nashville, home to massive stars like Taylor Swift and Reba and Tim McGraw, etc.  So, I guess she didn't want to sign with their sorry ass label anyway.  From reading the Internet about this, it sounds like some people thought she dissed TayTay with this line, but Kacey disavowed the diss with a wink.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of both of her albums, and I've never seen her play live, so this is my big moment.  Luckily for me, the weirdo in charge of scheduling put her early in the day on Sunday, when nothing else is really happening, so its on.