\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNino Munoz for Variety<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tDoes Grandma \u2014 the same one who \u201ccried when I pierced my nose\u201d in Musgraves\u2019 2018 song \u201cSlow Burn\u201d \u2014\u00a0know what that means?<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cShe does \u2014 although she hasn\u2019t seen the video yet,\u201d says Musgraves, referring to the clip\u2019s setting in a supermarket filled with phallic fruit. \u201cI don\u2019t know if she\u2019ll laugh. Actually, in the middle of filming the video, I got a text from my dad that Nana had to be rushed to the hospital: She had a really scary extreme high blood pressure incident. So I had to leave and I was on the call, crying, like, \u2018If Nana lives, she\u2019s gonna hate<\/em> this video!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThankfully, the video was spared a dark subtext. \u201cShe\u2019s doing great \u2014 I saw her this morning,\u201d says Musgraves, who is lounging on a crisp white couch in a West Hollywood hotel suite but began this long day back in Golden, the tiny East Texas town where she was born and raised \u2014 a place very familiar with dry spells.<\/p>\n \n\tOn the day the song was written, it really had been 335 days since she\u2019d last gotten lucky (satisfyingly or otherwise), and she stuck to that lyric, although the number had grown by the time she recorded it. \u201cThe dry spell was broken at a certain point. It did cross the year threshold \u2014 a year and a half, maybe?\u201d She picks up her phone. \u201cSiri, how many days are in a year and a half?\u201d The answer is 547 days, which she says could figure into the lyric when she performs it live.<\/p>\n \n\tAlthough abstinence is presented in a comically frustrated light, there were real undertones to her thoughts about the conundrum of whether or not Maytag might beat having a man around.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI feel like most people are trying to convince you how much they\u2019ve got going on in that department, and I just wanted to let people know how little<\/em> I had going on,\u201d Musgraves says, growing more serious. \u201cIt can get really comfortable and easy to stay that way, because you start feeling really protective of bringing transient energy in. Like, \u2018I\u2019m really peaceful right now. This may or may not make anything better.\u2019 But then you\u2019re like, \u2018Ugh, but I wanna have some fun.\u2019 You really start weighing out: Is it worth it?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cDry Spell\u201d represents the lighter side of themes explored throughout \u201cMiddle of Nowhere,\u201d the country crossover artist\u2019s sixth studio album (out May 1) and third since \u201cGolden Hour,\u201d which won the Grammy for album of the year in 2019 and lofted Musgraves, now 37, into a higher stratum of stardom. She burst onto the scene in 2013 with one of the most acclaimed country debuts of all time, \u201cSame Trailer, Different Park,\u201d an album that wore wizened influences ranging from Loretta Lynn to John Prine on its youthful sleeve. Before long, she joined Chris Stapleton as the kind of once-or-twice-in-a-generation country artist who transcends Nashville ties and insinuates their way into the hearts and collections of music fans who otherwise rarely touch the stuff. Expanding her palette in a big way with \u201cGolden Hour,\u201d she reached for, and achieved, a kind of genre-lessness.<\/p>\n \n\tNow, \u201cMiddle of Nowhere\u201d indisputably represents a re-embrace of country \u2014 on her terms, as always. She\u2019s posing fearlessly with actual bulls on the cover, and steel guitars appear on most of the tracks (most often played by Nashville legend Paul Franklin). It provides a bed for Musgraves at her real-est and occasionally at her cheekiest, as she has a lot to get off her chest, even as she dons a cowboy hat for the first time in a while.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNino Munoz for Variety<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe album was written during what she says was the first instance in her adult life when she was single for an extended period of time, following a bruising split from writer Cole Schafer and, previously, a nearly three-year marriage to singer-songwriter Ruston Kelly that ended in 2020. The novelty, for her, of being in a relationship nowheresville befitted the album\u2019s titular concept. But the title literally came from a sign she saw recently in her Texas hometown (population: just under 300).<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI had been going through a breakup and I really needed to feel grounded, and I had all this time and space around me. So I went down there, and someone had put up this sign in the middle of the town which literally said, \u2018Golden, Texas: Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere.\u2019 It made me laugh, and I was just like, OK, that\u2019s obviously meant to be a little bit self-deprecating, but there was this quiet confidence about it that I really liked.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a wormhole I can get really nerdy about, but the concept of liminal space is really interesting to me. They\u2019re usually places that are transitional and meant for passing through, like airport terminals and hallways. I\u2019ve been in this period of learning how to be a single adult for the first time, really, in my adult life, so this was freaky for me. It was kind of like, \u2018Oh God, I\u2019m by myself,\u2019 but I really learned how to lean into that: You\u2019re in this weird hallway between what you\u2019re sure about and what you can\u2019t see. That would\u2019ve freaked me out at any other time, but this time I was like, wait, what if it\u2019s awesome that I don\u2019t know? I let myself hang out in uncomfortability, and I ended up getting totally fucking obsessed with it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIt became a time of adventure for her geographically as well, as she set up a third home (beyond her twin bases in Golden and Nashville) in Mexico, where she spent much of the past year. \u201cIs home a place?\u201d she asks. \u201cI don\u2019t know that it is. I think it\u2019s more a feeling that you carry in you.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBut there\u2019s no place like the home that is country music. And in that, \u201cMiddle of Nowhere\u201d feels very grounded. It\u2019s in large part a return to the traditional country sounds that were a hallmark of \u201cSame Trailer, Different Park\u201d and its successor, \u201cPageant Material,\u201d before she moved on to a dreamier folk-pop style with \u201cGolden Hour\u201d; it even features a surprise duet with country superstar and former frenemy Miranda Lambert (more on that shortly). Musgraves worked with co-writers-producers Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk for the fourth album in a row, but this time half the songs were co-written with that team, while the remainder reunited her with co-writers from her first couple of albums, like Nashville hitmakers Shane McAnally, Luke Laird and Josh Osbourne.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNino Munoz for Variety<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe humor in her lyrics is back as well, but with less of the countrypolitan camp of the early albums. \u201cI really love camp,\u201d she proclaims. \u201cBut I made a conscious choice to pivot from that, because I didn\u2019t want to be a bumper-sticker songwriter, you know?\u201d Taking a turn for the serious with \u201cGolden Hour\u201d and the albums that followed was a necessary pivot toward a less showily clever style of writing \u2014 rooted in true romance, then divorce (on 2021\u2019s \u201cStar Crossed\u201d), then, with her most recent album, more of a journey into wellness.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI do think that \u2018Deeper Well\u2019 was super introspective, therapeutic a bit and borderline serious, maybe,\u201d she says. \u201cI purposely wanted to lean a little bit away from that, and have more fun with phrasing and humor, which a lot of my earlier songs used to do. It\u2019s been fun to play with that again, because I love laughing, and I really feel like America also needs to laugh.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tRoom service arrives at Musgraves\u2019 suite, and it\u2019s a beef kebab. After flying in from Texas, she\u2019s earned this \u201cbreakfast,\u201d which is her first meal of the day despite the late-afternoon hour: As soon as she checked into her hotel, she went straight to the gym, and is still wearing her workout clothes beneath the camo hoodie she sports in the \u201cDry Spell\u201d music video. The only touch of glam is a pair of glittery silver shoes, which she had to wear while working out because she forgot to pack more practical sneakers.<\/p>\n \n\tSpeaking of beef: There is the tantalizing fact that the new album includes a duet with Lambert: The two were perceived to be in some kind of extended feud, or at least an estrangement, going back an unlucky 13 years or so. As the lore went, Musgraves was peeved because she had been talked into handing over \u201cMama\u2019s Broken Heart,\u201d which as a freshman artist she had pegged as her own breakout single, to Lambert, who had yet another smash hit with it. This was a boost to Musgraves\u2019 bankroll and reputation in the industry as a topflight songwriter, but still, some echoes of stolen thunder resonated, and Musgraves was left to premiere her own project with the ballad \u201cMerry Go Round\u201d\u2026 which was<\/em> a career maker, if not the smash hit \u201cMama\u2019s\u201d had been banked as. A video clip from the CMA Awards that year achieved some virality: It showed Musgraves with an I\u2019m-not-having-it<\/em> look on her face as Lambert thanked her from the stage.<\/p>\n \n\tDoes the presence of a Lambert duet on the new album mean that there was no beef between these two country greats after all?<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cOh, there was,\u201d Musgraves confirms. \u201cIt was grass-fed, grade A.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tShe pauses before continuing, \u201cI mean, it\u2019s real and that\u2019s why I love this song, because it\u2019s not coming from some contrived place in a writing room. We\u2019ve come together after years of really, honestly, not being friends. I had this idea one day when I saw her on Instagram, riding one of her horses, and I thought, \u2018Well, I guess we have two things in common: horses and divorces.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Wait, that\u2019s a song.\u2019 Then I took it a step further: \u2018What if I write it with her? What if it\u2019s a duet? Fuck it, I\u2019m gonna reach out.\u2019 I hadn\u2019t spoken to her in years and was like, \u2018Hey, I have this idea. If anybody would get it, it would be you. We\u2019ve had our shit over the years, but this would be really funny.\u2019 And she was like, \u2018I\u2019m down.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNino Munoz for Variety<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\t\u201cI was like, \u2018Look, I\u2019m not trying to be your friend, but we should write this song at least.\u2019 So it was a late addition, the last song added\u201d to the album, which wrapped up in January.<\/p>\n \n\tMusgraves and Lambert are two of the most important figures in country music in the 21st century, so the pairing would have been historic even without the beefy backstory. McAnally is friends with both singers and became the sounding board for their writing session.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019ll never forget where I was standing when Kacey called me and said, \u2018I have this idea to write a song with Miranda,\u2019\u201d he recalls. \u201cShe said, \u2018One, do you think it\u2019s a good idea? Two, do you think she\u2019ll do it?\u2019 My heart was beating so fast because I\u2019m a crazy country music fan, and these two women are my Dolly and Loretta. And they both switched roles; I\u2019m not saying who is who, but there was no ego in it. They have so much respect for each other, and I got to be a part of what I really do believe is history. She texted Miranda, they got on the phone and Miranda said, \u2018I love this idea and I think we have to write it with Shane, because if we don\u2019t, he\u2019ll never forgive us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThere was forgiveness to spare in the room. \u201cIn our writing session, Miranda said, \u2018Hey, I wouldn\u2019t have the career that I have without that song, and I\u2019m really grateful for it,\u2019\u201d Musgraves recalls. \u201cSo it was very full circle\u201d \u2014 after, admittedly, a pretty long frost. \u201cIt was a plot twist that even I did not see coming, so it really surprised me too. We talked about everything, and we\u2019re both older now and have less energy for dumb shit. I don\u2019t love having weirdness with anyone out there.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMusgraves and Lambert bonded over something else in their duet, beyond horse riding prowess and marital horror stories. \u201cWe both love Willie,\u201d they sing, \u201cbut I mean, really \u2026 what asshole doesn\u2019t like Willie?\u201d And after Nelson\u2019s mention in that song, who should show up in the very next track on the album \u2014 almost \u201cbreaking the fourth wall,\u201d Musgraves laughs \u2014 but Nelson himself? The legend appears on \u201cUncertain, Texas,\u201d which, unlikely as it sounds, is named after an actual town.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cUncertain might take the cake for being even smaller than where I\u2019m from,\u201d she says. \u201cI think the population was like 98 people at one point. But I just had fun thinking about it being this real place where nobody can make up their mind. I was like, is that where all the fuckboys go?\u201d\u2014 she laughs \u2014 \u201cbecause no one can make up their mind in this modern world where accountability\u2019s optional and options are endless.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tNo fuckboy could stand a chance, anyway, pitted against Nelson as her backup. \u201cHe is our favorite Texan, the patriarch of truth in storytelling and everybody\u2019s favorite gangster grandpa,\u201d she says of her longtime pal. \u201cI was like, I want Willie to help me throw a little bit of shade.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tTashian, her co-writer and co-producer, thinks Musgraves\u2019 Texas authenticity stands out in a world of exurban country. \u201cI think country\u2019s quite fashionable nowadays, and you see a lot of people putting on hats and stuff \u2014 there\u2019s a lot of cosplay, right?\u201d he says. \u201cShe references that in the new song \u2018Everybody Wants to Be a Cowboy.\u2019 Part of this is sort of a response of like, \u2018Well, I really am<\/em> country, and I\u2019ve been out riding my horse all day, and now I\u2019m gonna write a song and let you know that side of it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMcAnally says Musgraves\u2019 less overtly country albums, from \u201cGolden Hour\u201d through \u201cDeeper Well,\u201d make her return to this particular well more precious. \u201cI actually think it makes this moment better,\u201d he says, \u201cfor people to have been down those other roads with her, but also be anticipating when she would sort of return to form. If you watch her onstage, if you hear her in interviews, she just seems like she wants to have a good time right now.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNino Munoz for Variety<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tAnd there will be ample opportunities to see her do just that when the \u201cMiddle of Nowhere Tour\u201d tour launches August 21, bringing her to such not-exactly-nowhere places as Madison Square Garden and L.A.\u2019s Crypto.com Arena, where she\u2019ll be doing two-night stands. She previewed the tour with a late-announced set on Coachella\u2019s second weekend, which saw her riding a horse to the side of the stage and playing new songs and country classics by George Strait and Brooks & Dunn; her set featured a bespoke horse trailer and other country accoutrements. The forthcoming tour will be quite different from her special-effects-laden, screen-filled \u201cDeeper Well Tour.\u201d \u201cI want it to feel like you\u2019re walking into an outdoor rodeo when you\u2019re in there,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s gonna be dirt, and it\u2019ll feel like you\u2019re outside.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe tour\u2019s lighthearted look may contrast with the heaviness of some of the album\u2019s subject matter, as heard in songs like \u201cCoyotes\u201d (about animals who \u201clive on the fringe of human activity\u201d but \u201cget defensive if you get too close,\u201d like some fellows she\u2019s known) and \u201cI Believe in Ghosts\u201d (about, yes, being ghosted). But they all illustrate what she\u2019s moving past, and that this ain\u2019t her first rodeo.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe\u2019re preloaded with all these factory settings, I think from our childhood, that kind of navigate us to choose the same archetypes,\u201d she says, pondering the relationship history that informed the new album\u2019s serious moments. \u201cFor some reason, it\u2019s me convincing the person that I\u2019m with that they like me. I\u2019m like, why does this keep happening? I think I\u2019ve finally gotten the fuck out of that, and I think I\u2019ve gained the confidence of knowing that I don\u2019t need to chase anybody. I will not waste time on that again.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBut in a way, I hope I always have things to learn, because, honestly, it\u2019s where my songs come from. I can\u2019t have it all<\/em> figured out. So in the end, I\u2019m always grateful for the pain, even though it hurts, because I\u2019m so inspired by the human experience. It\u2019s real fucked up, but also funny. There\u2019s a lot to laugh about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source variety.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It all comes out in the wash, as the saying goes, and that\u2019s the upshot of Kacey Musgraves\u2019 \u201cDry Spell,\u201d which may be the sexiest song ever written about sexlessness. When asked for her favorite lyric on her new album, \u201cMiddle of Nowhere,\u201d the singer doesn\u2019t hesitate to cite a slyly bawdy line from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2395730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[37041,451342],"class_list":["post-2395729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-kacey-musgraves","tag-middle-of-nowhere"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Kacey-Musgraves-on-Middle-of-Nowhere-Country-and-Masturbation.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2395729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2395729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2395729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2395731,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2395729\/revisions\/2395731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2395730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2395729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2395729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2395729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n\n\t\tMakeup: Moani Lee; Hair: Giovanni Delgado; Styling: Maddie Louviere; Look 1 (cover): Hat: Serratelli Hat Company; Tank: Hanes; Jacket: New Arrivals; Look 2 (roses): Full look: Carolina Herrera; Shoes: Tony Bianco; Earrings: Ettika; Look 3 (seated): Top and pants: Ralph Lauren; Shoes: Stuart Weitzman; Ring: Lady Grey Jewelry\t<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n