The Key To Kacey Musgraves' Hard-Won Country: Funny Women
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
On the same day last week the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, country star Kacey Musgraves came by NPR Music's Tiny Desk and gave us a live, off-the-cuff rendition of her breakthrough song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FOLLOW YOUR ARROW")
KACEY MUSGRAVES: (Singing) So make lots of noise, kiss lots of boys, or kiss lots of girls if that's something you're into.
MONTAGNE: That song, "Follow Your Arrow," is from Musgraves's first album, "Same Trailer Different Park," and that accept-yourself attitude also runs throughout her second album, "Pageant Material," which was just released. Here to talk more about that is NPR Music Critic Ann Powers.
Good morning.
ANN POWERS, BYLINE: Joining you from Nashville, Renee. How're you doing today?
MONTAGNE: Great. Well-placed, Ann. Quite a moment for Kacey Musgraves - obviously, clearly unintentionally in a way - to have a song ready for this big historic moment.
POWERS: This is very characteristic of Kasey Musgraves. She is really grabbing a pivotal moment in both American culture and in country music.
MONTAGNE: What, though, are the specific elements that make her distinctive at this moment in time in country music?
POWERS: Well, Musgraves comes from Texas, and she comes out of a tradition that's always approached the center of country slightly from an angle. At the same time, she makes music that's beautifully crafted, lyrically just so witty, full of puns but also full of insights, very much indebted to songwriters like Willie Nelson, who's one of her idols, Loretta Lynn, who she resembles in many ways, and John Prine. Her music is also really fun. It makes people feel she's connected to country traditions even as she is this total 21st-century woman.
MONTAGNE: To illustrate that and to also show a little of her witty side, why don't we play the song, "Pageant Material?"
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PAGEANT MATERIAL")
MUSGRAVES: (Singing) I ain't pageant material. I'm always higher than my hair, and it ain't that I don't care about world peace, but I don't see how I can fix it in a swimsuit on a stage.
POWERS: Kasey's talked about the crucial tradition of women in country, like Loretta Lynn, like Dolly Parton, who inhabited roles and used humor to just say no to the binding roles of femininity that have sometimes afflicted women in the South and everywhere in America. And in this song, "Good Old Boys Club," Kacey Musgraves fully joins that tradition of women talking back to country though country.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOOD OLD BOYS CLUB")
MUSGRAVES: (Singing) Don't want to be part of the good old boys club. Cigars and handshakes. Appreciate you, but no, thanks. Another gear in a big machine doesn't sound like fun to me.
MONTAGNE: So Ann, looking ahead, where do you see Kasey Musgraves? Are we talking mainstream country, crossover pop?
POWERS: Renee, I see no reason why she couldn't rule any corner she wants to move into. And no matter how much some critics are calling her, you know, a return to pure country - only if pure country means touring with Katy Perry, having neon cactuses on stage, Kasey Musgraves represents the belief that artists in the genre should be able to do what they want (laughter), and other people should just mind their own business, or, as she says, biscuits.
MONTAGNE: Which is a good song, "Biscuits," to end this conversation on. It's been a pleasure, as always. NPR Music Critic Ann Powers, glad to talk to you again.
POWERS: Always a pleasure, and I'll talk to you again from Nashville soon.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BISCUITS")
MUSGRAVES: (Singing) Mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy.
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