Kasey Musgraves knows that just because something has a simple sound doesn’t mean it’s easy to create.
“There may be a misconception that country music is easy to replicate,” the country singer told The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview. “When you look at the bones of traditional country – the structure, the sounds, the subject matter – it’s not easy to replicate.”
Explaining that while the genre “comes across as very simple, and the best country music is,” it’s “full of so many layers of heart and real life, real stories.”
“And there’s a lot of restraint,” she added. “Really good traditional country music, there’s a lot of space for the lyrics, the story, for the heartbreak and the texture. I really appreciate that about that era of country music. It paints a picture, but it’s subtle and it’s simple.”
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And while some are celebrating Musgraves’ “return” to the genre, the singer insists she “never left.”
The 36-year-old is now back with her first label, Lost Highway Records, which once represented country legends like Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett before it folded in 2012. The label recently relaunched, and Musgraves was the first to sign on.
“While some might think of it as a ‘return,’ I want to make it super clear that I never left,” the “Deeper Well” singer said. “It’s always been a home base, and it’s truly where I’m sonically the most happy. But since the beginning, I’ve always had an exploratory foot out the door a little bit, allowing myself to infuse all these other genres that speak to me.”
John Janick, chairman and CEO of Interscope Capitol and IGA, said Musgraves is a perfect fit for Lost Highway Records.
“Lost Highway carved out a special place in the remarkable musical legacy of Nashville,” he shared in a statement to Holler, a country music magazine.. “It was a left-of-center label with one-of-a-kind artists who, at their core, were great songwriters and moved culture. With this new chapter in Lost Highway’s history, we are devoted to empowering the next generation of trailblazers, both artists and executives”.
He added, “Kacey exemplifies the kind of culture-shifting, left-of-center artists that Lost Highway has always been known for. Given the close relationship she’s had with both Lost Highway and Interscope, it seemed only natural for her to be the first artist signed in this new chapter.”
Musgraves also covered Hank Williams’ 1949 song “Lost Highway” to mark rejoining the eponymous label.
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“From the age of 7, 8 years old, I was singing all the country standards and classics: Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Hank Snow, Cindy Walker,” she revealed during her interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s such a part of me, I can’t escape even if I wanted to.”
The singer said, “It really feels good to wholeheartedly embrace that sound, because I’m always listening to that kind of thing.”
Indeed, her version of “Lost Highway” has a twang that hearkens back to the earlier days of country music.
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Musgraves said her version of “Lost Highway” didn’t need an “avant-garde reimagining.”
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“I wanted to bring it back to life,” she explained of the song, which was originally recorded in 1949. “When I was in the studio, I looked into the genesis of the song, and I was taken aback to find it has real ties to where I’m from. Hank Williams [recorded] the version we know and love, but the songwriter is Leon Payne.”
She added, “The story goes he was attempting to hitchhike from California to Alba, Texas. His mother was sick, and he was trying to get to her. I almost fell out of my chair – Alba is the next town over to the teeny, tiny town I’m from, Golden. Alba has no more than 500 people; I’ve never heard it referenced anywhere in pop culture. This song is full-circle for me, in terms of where I started and where I am now, my label.”
Six years ago, Musgraves confirmed that getting her music on the radio isn’t necessarily her barometer of a successful song.
“To me, radio isn’t necessarily the mark of what makes good music,” she said at the Grammys in 2019.
“That’s not what I had in mind when I was making this album,” she continued about “Golden Hour,” which won the album of the year award at the time. “It’s been really amazing and incredible to see it do some really wild, gratifying, unbelievable things – going further than I ever thought that it could. I’m just really thankful. I think streaming was a big part of it… My publicist for working his a– off. My band and my road family working very hard.
“And ultimately, I feel like it just lets me know that it doesn’t really matter where someone hears your music, it’s if they connect or not,” Musgraves concluded.
