Kacey Musgraves

Kacey Lee Musgraves (born August 21, 1988) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Musgraves has won eight Grammy Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, and four Academy of Country Music Awards.

Musgraves began her career in the early 2000s, when she released three solo albums on her own and recorded another album as part of the musical group Texas Two Bits. In 2007, Musgraves was on the fifth season of the USA Network singing competition Nashville Star, where she finished in seventh place. In 2012, she signed with Mercury Nashville and released the hit single "Merry Go 'Round". Her first studio album, Same Trailer Different Park (2013), won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album in 2014.

Musgraves' second studio album, Pageant Material (2015), was at number three on the Billboard 200 chart. She released a Christmas-themed album, A Very Kacey Christmas (2016). Her fourth studio album Golden Hour (2018) was released to positive reviews from critics and won all four of its nominated Grammy Award categories, including Album of the Year and Best Country Album. The album's first two singles, "Space Cowboy" and "Butterflies", won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. Musgraves' fifth studio album, Star-Crossed (2021), became her fourth top-ten album on the Billboard 200. 

In 2023, she worked with Zach Bryan on Bryan's single "I Remember Everything", which won a Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Her sixth studio album, Deeper Well (2024), was at number two on the Billboard 200, and the album's single "The Architect" won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song.

Early life
Kacey Lee Musgraves was born August 21, 1988, in Golden, Texas. Her parents are Karen (née Abrams), an artist, and Craig Musgraves, owner of a small printing business. She was born six weeks premature and weighed only five pounds. She has a younger sister, Kelly Christine Sutton, who is a photographer. Musgraves was raised in Mineola, Texas.

Musgraves started writing songs at the age of eight. Her first song, "Notice Me", was for her elementary-school graduation. She first learned to play music on the mandolin and then started taking guitar lessons at the age of 12. Musgraves also learned how to play the harmonica around this time.

Musgraves' mother took her to local music festivals to sing western swing music. She made a country-music duo called Texas Two Bits with a classmate Alina Tatum. They released an independent album in 2000. The group was invited to sing at President George W. Bush's "Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball" in 2001. Musgraves also won yodeling national championships and was called the "Yodeling Queen of Texas". She was picked to sing the national anthem at the 2002 Winter Olympics. At age 14, her family paid for her first solo, self-released album. Her parents would go on to pay for two more independent albums while Musgraves was a teenager.

Musgraves graduated from Mineola High School in 2006 and moved to Austin at 18. In 2007, Musgraves took part in season five of the singing competition reality television series Nashville Star, where she came in seventh place. To support her career, Musgraves worked many jobs, including performing as Hannah Montana for children's birthday parties.

Career
2008–2014: Early start
Musgraves recorded three albums on her own in 2002, 2003, and 2007 with the help of her parents. While living in Austin in 2008, she recorded two songs for independent record label Triple Pop. She worked with the Josh Abbott Band in 2010 on the song "Oh, Tonight". Musgraves also recorded two acoustic covers of OneRepublic's "Apologize" and Miley Cyrus' "See You Again" for Triple Pop.
Musgraves joined Lady A during the European part of their Own the Night Tour in 2012. In 2012, she signed with Mercury Nashville and released her first solo single "Merry Go 'Round". The song is included on her first major album Same Trailer Different Park, which was released on March 19, 2013. The album sold 42,000 copies. Musgraves started a tour to support the album in 2013 and would last two years. "Follow Your Arrow", which was on the album, was named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the greatest country songs of all time. Musgraves co-wrote Miranda Lambert's 2013 single "Mama's Broken Heart".

Musgraves was nominated for six awards at the 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in 2012. Musgraves was also nominated for four Grammy Awards in 2014. Those nominations included Best New Artist, Best Country Album (Same Trailer Different Park), and Best Country Song for both "Mama's Broken Heart" and "Merry Go 'Round". "Merry Go 'Round" won the Best Country Song Grammy award, and Same Trailer Different Park won in Best Country Album.

Musgraves joined Katy Perry on the North American part of her Prismatic World Tour as well as Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss on during their tour. Musgraves also sang in "Bourbon in Kentucky", the lead single on Dierks Bentley's 2013 album Riser. In April 2014, Musgraves won the Academy of Country Music award for album of the year for Same Trailer Different Park. In June 2014, she released a new song called The Trailer Song, which she sang on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

 2015–2017: Pageant Material 

In September 2014, Musgraves said that she had begun writing songs for her second major label album. "Biscuits", the main song from the album, was released on March 16, 2015. Pageant Material, Musgraves' second studio album, was released on June 23, 2015. To support the album, Musgraves was on many late night shows and sang songs from the album. In 2015, she started the Kacey Musgraves Country & Western Rhinestone Revue Tour, which lasted for a year.

Musgraves was part a remix of Miguel's single "Waves", released on February 26, 2016. On September 7, 2016, Musgraves announced the release of her first Christmas album, A Very Kacey Christmas. The album, which features eight traditional and four original songs, was released on October 28, 2016, through Mercury Nashville. To support the album, she started the short A Very Kacey Christmas Tour. In September 2016, Musgraves joined 30 other musicians to sing "Forever Country", a mash-up version of "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "On the Road Again", and "I Will Always Love You". The song celebrated 50 years of the CMA Awards.

In 2017, Musgraves was one of the background singers for "All the Best", a John Prine cover, for Zac Brown Band's album Welcome Home. Also in 2017, Musgraves was in Outlaw: Celebrating the Music of Waylon Jennings, where she sang "The Wurlitzer Prize".

 2018–2020: Golden Hour and rising success 

In December 2017, Musgraves announced the title of her third studio album Golden Hour through Entertainment Weekly. The songs "Butterflies" and "Space Cowboy" were released as the first singles from the album on February 23, 2018. 

Musgraves released "High Horse", the third song from the album, on March 22, 2018. A week later, she sang "Slow Burn" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Golden Hour was released on March 30, 2018, on MCA Nashville. On May 12, 2018, Musgraves was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performing "High Horse" and "Slow Burn". Through June and July, Musgraves was the opening act for the North American part of Harry Styles: Live on Tour. In September, Musgraves was in a re-recorded version of "There's No Gettin' Over Me" with Ronnie Milsap for his 2019 album. In October 2018, Musgraves started the "Oh, What a World Tour" in support of Golden Hour. 

In February 2019, Golden Hour won Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards in 2019. In the same month, Musgraves released "Rainbow" as the fifth single from the album. In April, Musgraves was in the new version of "Neon Moon" with Brooks and Dunn for their duet album Reboot. She also made a cameo appearance as herself in the country-music drama movie Wild Rose, released in April. In May, Musgraves went to the Met Gala where she dressed up as a Barbie doll and later said signed up with IMG to be a model. In October 2019, Musgraves revealed that she would cover the song "All Is Found" for Frozen II.

On November 4, 2019, Musgraves announced The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show, a holiday special for Amazon Prime Video. The soundtrack to the show includes works with other singers, including a cover of "I'll Be Home for Christmas" together with singer Lana Del Rey. The show also stars Kacey's grandmother Barbara Musgraves. In April 2020, she was in the Together at Home virtual concert special. That same month, she released an Earth Day inspired remix of "Oh, What a World".

 2020–present: Star-Crossed, Deeper Well and other projects 

In May 2020, Musgraves was part of The Flaming Lips single "Flowers of Neptune 6". She also sang two songs on their album American Head, which was released on September 11, 2020. Musgraves was also the background singer on Ruston Kelly's second album Shape & Destroy, which was recorded before she and Kelly divorced. On December 10, 2020, Musgraves also took part in Troye Sivan's new version of his song "Easy". She voiced Earwig's mother in the English dub of the 2020 Studio Ghibli movie Earwig and the Witch. She also voiced herself in a 2020 episode of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?.

In April 2021, Musgraves announced that her new album would be released later that year with UMG Nashville and Interscope Records. Musgraves began showing short clips of her album on her 33rd birthday. In August 2021, Musgraves said the name of her album would be Star-Crossed and would be released on September 10. That same month, Musgraves announced a tour for the album would happen the next year. In October 2021, she became the first ever musical guest to sing while naked on Saturday Night Live. In 2022, Musgraves sang a version of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love" for the 2022 biographical movie Elvis.

Musgraves worked with country singer Zach Bryan on the single "I Remember Everything" from his self-titled fourth studio album in late 2023. The track was number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making it her first number one appearance on the chart. The single was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2023 for Best Country Song and Best Country Duo/Group Performance. In October 2023, Musgraves worked with Noah Kahan on a re-released version of the single "She Calls Me Back" from Kahan's album Stick Season. She was also an executive producer for the Apple TV+ country music competition show My Kind of Country in 2023.

In February 2024, Musgraves announced her sixth studio album, Deeper Well, which was released on March 15, 2024. In March 2024, she sang two songs from the album on Saturday Night Live. That same month, she was a guest and interviewed for two hours with Howard Stern. In April 2024, Musgraves worked with the rock band Rainbow Kitten Surprise on the single "Overtime", from the band's new album Love Hate Music Box. That same month, her Deeper Well World Tour started. In August 2024, Musgraves and Sabrina Carpenter both sang a cover of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots are Made for Walkin'" during Carpenter's concert in San Francisco. In December 2024, her Deeper Well World Tour ended in Nashville.

In May 2025, Musgraves released a cover of Leon Payne's 1948 single "Lost Highway" to honor the re-opening of Lost Highway Records, a record label she worked with before.

 Inspirations and music style 
Musgraves said that Alison Krauss is one of her career role models. Musgraves also said her favorite singer is John Prine. She also said Lee Ann Womack is one of her childhood inspirations. 

Musgraves said albums by Glen Campbell, Bobbie Gentry, Marty Robbins, Charley Pride, Roger Miller, and Jim Croce were inspirations for some of her albums. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she said that Ray Price, Julie Miller, and Loretta Lynn inspired her music making. In a Billboard interview, Musgraves said that she is a Dolly Parton fan and was inspired by her activism.

Some non-country musical inspirations that Musgraves mentioned were Cher, Selena, Ryan Adams, Cake, Neil Young, Weezer, Imogen Heap, Bee Gees, Sade, and Electric Light Orchestra.

Her music has been seen as progressive, which was seen as different from the usual conservative themes in country music. Her music has focused on accepting LGBT people, safe sex, recreational marijuana use, and questioning religious beliefs. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Musgraves talked about criticism she had for her progressive lyrics, saying "I think throwing the rebel card out there is really cheap. The things I'm singing about are not controversial to me, I don't push buttons to push buttons. I talk about things that have made an impression on me that a lot of people everywhere are going through."

 Personal life 
Musgraves lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She owns a horse named Nava.

In 2014, Musgraves said she dated bandmate Misa Arriaga for many years after they first became friends and worked together.

Musgraves met Ruston Kelly in March 2016 in Nashville. In May 2016, they had a songwriting date, and they began dating shortly after. Musgraves said that the song "Butterflies" from her album Golden Hour is about her relationship with Kelly. On December 24, 2016, Musgraves and Kelly were engaged. They married on October 14, 2017 in Tennessee. The couple divorced in 2020 

From 2021 to 2023, Musgraves was in a relationship with Cole Schafer, a poet.

In June 2025, Musgraves was taken to a hospital after falling and breaking a rib while on vacation in Mexico. This caused Musgraves to cancel a show later in the month and another in September.

 Discography 

Albums
 Same Trailer Different Park (2013)
 Pageant Material (2015)
 A Very Kacey Christmas (2016)
 Golden Hour (2018)
 The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show album (2019)
 Star-Crossed (2021)
 Deeper Well (2024)

Tours
Same Trailer Different Tour (2013–2015)
The Kacey Musgraves Country & Western Rhinestone Revue (2015–2016)
A Very Kacey Christmas Tour (2016)
Oh, What a World: Tour (2018–2019)
Oh, What a World: Tour II (2019)
Star-Crossed: Unveiled (2022)
Deeper Well World Tour (2024)

 Awards and honors 

Grammys
At the Grammy Awards, Musgraves was nominated seventeen times, winning eight awards.
 Album of the Year – Golden Hour (2019)
 Best Country Song – "Merry Go 'Round" (2014), "Space Cowboy" (2019), "The Architect" (2025)
 Best Country Album – Same Trailer Different Park (2014), Golden Hour (2019)
 Best Country Solo Performance – "Butterflies" (2019)
 Best Country Duo/Group Performance – "I Remember Everything" with Zach Bryan (2024)

References

Other websites





Category:1988 births
Category:Living people

Category:American Grammy Award winners
Category:American country guitarists
Category:American banjo players
Category:American pop singers
Category:American folk singers
Category:American folk musicians
Category:American pop musicians
Category:American LGBT rights activists
Category:American voice actors
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Category:People from Mineola, Texas
Category:Country musicians from Texas
Category:Singer-songwriters from Texas
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Category:Country musicians from Tennessee
Category:Singers from Nashville, Tennessee
Category:Writers from Nashville, Tennessee
Category:Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee
Category:Actors from Nashville, Tennessee
Category:Models from Nashville, Tennessee
Category:Singer-songwriters from Tennessee