Kacey Musgraves on writing lyrics:

When singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves went home to East Texas a couple of years ago to heal from a breakup, she saw a sign: “Golden, Texas, somewhere in the middle of nowhere.”

“And I was like, ‘That’s a song,'” she said. “Okay, a record called ‘Middle of Nowhere,’ I feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere right now.”

Soon the rest of an album started to spill out, such as the song “Dry Spell.”  “I had that title written down in my phone, ’cause quite literally I was going through a dry spell!”

It’s been a real long
Three-hundred and thirty-five days
And the last time
It wasn’t good anyway … 

Ain’t nobody’s tool up in my shed
Ain’t nobody’s boots under my bed
Ain’t nobody’s truck up in my drive
For a late-night call, for a real good time
Ain’t no new notches on my belt
And I’m tired of keeping my hands to myself
911, it’s officially a cry for help
Y’all, I’m going through a dry spell, yep 

To hear Kacey Musgraves perform “Dry Spell,” from her album “Middle of Nowhere,” click on the video player below:

Asked if she gets excited writing a great lyric, Musgraves replied, “There is no greater drug, yes! Mostly I’m always in competition with myself. Can I beat myself? Can I make this better? Leaving that day and playing it in your car, you’re like, ‘Okay, I have not lost it.’ You’re like, ‘That was good!’

“I remember, like, back in the day with ‘Space Cowboy,’ I was on the treadmill one day. And I heard the words ‘space cowboy’ in my mind. But then I heard it, like, Space comma cowboy. You know like, you can have your space, cowboy! But when people see the title they’re gonna think that it’s space cowboy. Ooh, got you!”

“Space Cowboy” won Musgraves a Grammy for best country song in 2019. The same year, she won album of the year for “Golden Hour.”

Musgraves started out performing the Texas circuit at spots like Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth.

“It’s a really big deal, I don’t know if you know this, but when you sell out Billy Bob’s you get to put your hands in the concrete,” she said, showing off her handprints on the wall. “These are my hands. They still fit!”

Musgraves started playing publicly when she was eight or nine. She grew up a couple hours’ drive from Fort Worth, in a “little bitty town” called Golden.

Thirteen years ago, “Sunday Morning” visited Musgraves and her family at her parents’ house. “We all sat around the table, we all had very interesting hair choices at that point in time,” Musgraves said. “I re-watched it recently. and I was like, ‘Wow! My bangs, I don’t know what’s happening.'”

From the archives: Anthony Mason’s profile of Kacey Musgraves from 2013 (Video)

“And my grandparents were there. You took a visit to, I think, my grandpa’s record collection, which he still has,” she said. “And it’s still just as unorganized. It’s a little treasure hunt!”

One of Musgraves’ earliest influences was John Prine. “I like to think he’s a bit of a little guardian angel,” she said. “He was a mentor for sure to me.”

Prine died of COVID in 2020. Musgraves’ song “Cardinal,” on her last album, was a tribute to Prine.

I saw a sign or an omen
On the branches in the morning
It was right after I
Lost a friend without warning 

Cardinal
Are you bringing me a message from the other side?

She said, “I really do feel like he sent me messages. And the cardinal kept visiting. I know that was a major symbol for him.

“We actually tried to write a song one time,” she said. “I went to his house in Nashville, and we didn’t end up even finishing anything, ’cause I was just listening to his stories all day. He said, ‘Well, we’re probably not gonna write a song, are we?’ I’m like, ‘No, probably not!'” Still, it was, she said, an “awesome day.”

“Middle of Nowhere” is Musgraves’ sixth album. Her first five albums all hit #1 on the country chart. Her sister, Kelly, took the cover photo, of Kacey posing with a bull. “I called my friend Evan, I was like, ‘Do you have any bulls that you could bring?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, actually I’ve got a really sweet one. His name is Tex.’ And at one point like, the police come over. They’re like, ‘Do you guys have a permit for this?’ And we’re like, ‘No?’ And they were like, ‘All right.'”

In writing her new record, Musgraves says she learned how to embrace being alone: “It’s nice just to be able to stop the tape and kind of evaluate, like, ‘Okay, why do I make these choices? How am I drawn to certain archetypes of people? What does that say about me?'”

What did she realize when she asked those questions? “Well, I don’t have all the answers,” she replied. “Do we ever? Yeah, we really don’t know. Now, I realize that there’s nothing more lonely than being in a relationship that isn’t right for you. It’s way more lonely than being actually just by yourself.”

And after 335 days, she isn’t in the middle of nowhere anymore. “The dry spell was broken, I’ll just say that,” she laughed. “The dry spell is broken, I’ve got everything I need!”

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch an extended interview with Kacey Musgraves (Video)

     
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Story produced by Jon Carras and Lucie Kirk. Editor: Lauren Barnello.