Reviews

Kacey Musgraves – Middle of Nowhere

Kacey Musgraves showcases her wit and warmth, as she returns to her country roots on Middle of Nowhere, a sumptuously produced record with enough sharp songwriting to outweigh its occasional missteps.

Since her 2013 debut, Same Trailer Different Park, Kacey Musgraves has established herself as bona fide country music royalty, with a string of high-profile collaborations and Grammy-winning albums under her rhinestone-studded belt.

While I’ve come to appreciate the majesty of 2018’s Golden Hour, arguably Musgraves’ strongest country-pop outing, it was the unassuming range she displayed on 2024’s Deeper Well that first won me over. That record, with its unexpected references to morning gravity bong hits and being high all the time, saw Musgraves taking her sound to new territories, with shades of soft-rock, folk and even jangle (honestly, listen to “Cardinal” again) thrown into the mix.

Deeper Well also highlighted just how funny and likeable Musgraves is. Her sharp wit and penchant for self-deprecation came to the fore, and I’m delighted to say that those same winning traits permeate Middle of Nowhere’s more traditional country songs, too. “Dry Spell,” the innuendo-laden lead single about a 335-day-long stint without sex, is the most obvious example. It’s heavily quotable, but the way Musgraves drily confesses, “I’ve been sitting on the washing machine,” gets me every time.

Other highlights include “Everybody Wants To Be A Cowboy,” with its shimmering bluegrass guitar, and the brilliant Miranda Lambert duet, “Horses and Divorces,” in which the former foes trade stinging barbs—Lambert’s “I'd ride in on my high horse, you’d still be higher” is a clear winner—and begrudgingly discover common ground (“We both love Willie/but I mean really/What asshole doesn't like Willie?”). A rousing Willie Nelson feature follows, which only serves to emphasise this point.

Not everything is a roaring success. The earnest trad-country “Back On The Wagon” feels a little predictable for the 2026 version of Musgraves, while the generic country-flavoured pop “Rhinestoned” screams filler. But these are minor quibbles. A sumptuously produced record with an enviable hit-to-miss ratio, Middle of Nowhere delivers more than enough drama, humour, and sparkle to solidify Musgraves’ place on the country music throne.

Middle of Nowhere is out now via Lost Highway.