Kacey Musgraves - Middle of Nowhere
Cowboys, mules, and gossip: Kacey Musgraves finds peace in the middle of nowhere on her seventh studio album.
Each new Kacey Musgraves release feels like a small journey. Since her mainstream breakthrough with the beloved Golden Hour, listeners have followed her on emotional getaways: wandering through the neon heartbreak of Las Vegas on star-crossed, seeking healing among the mountains and forests of Iceland on Deeper Well. Now, she returns to where it all began — the vast, empty landscapes of Texas.
But don’t mistake this setting for something bleak. On the opening track of Middle of Nowhere, Musgraves confidently declares that this life suits her just fine. For her, it’s a refuge: a place far removed from distractions, from unstable connections, and from men who don’t know what they want. That sense of calm carries into “Loneliest Girl”, where she openly admits she has no desire to meet new people, endure awkward dates, or get caught up in shallow drama. She’s content with her solitude—and there’s something enviable in that clarity, as if she’s reached a kind of inner balance. Toward the end of the record, on “Everybody Wants to Be a Cowboy”, she pokes fun at the romanticized image of that lifestyle. Whether it’s driven by the recent surge of country music in the charts or broader cultural shifts, Musgraves makes it clear: don’t try on the cowboy persona if your boots are spotless and you’ve never worked past sundown.
This grounded perspective continues on “Abilene”, a striking story about an unknown girl forced to leave her hometown because of relentless gossip about her relationships. Musgraves has explored small-town realities before—most notably on “Merry Go ’Round”, one of her most melancholic songs about people stuck in repeating life cycles. On Middle of Nowhere, she expands on that theme with the help of country heavyweights. On “Horses and Divorces”, she’s joined by Miranda Lambert, as both reflect on a friendship born from shared gossip and similar taste in questionable exes. “What asshole doesn’t like Willie?” they joke — leading straight into the next track, featuring the legendary Willie Nelson. “Uncertain, TX” is both hilarious and heartbreaking, painting a portrait of a town where trust feels impossible. Musgraves questions the sincerity of her friends and even the authenticity of a past relationship. Together with Nelson, she delivers a sharp line about a place full of cowboys who “can’t get off the fence,” warning that anyone without resilience will be blown right out of it.
Of course, no album would be complete without love in all its messy forms. The lead single “Dry Spell” is one of the most humorous and painfully relatable songs in Musgraves’ catalog: she finds herself stuck in a long dry streak, craving intimacy, with the music video leaning fully into the joke. “I Believe in Ghosts” turns its wit toward both Musgraves and a flaky love interest who disappears and reappears around Halloween. She admits she’d rather he stayed gone for good, bluntly noting he lacked the courage to end things properly. On “Back on the Wagon”, she finds herself in a completely different situation from the independence she once expressed on “breadwinner”: here, her partner drinks too much and wastes money, yet she remains stubbornly devoted.
All of this is rooted in lived experience. The closing track, “Hell on Me”, ties everything together — a deeply emotional ballad that echoes the subdued tone of her earlier work. Looking back, Musgraves recognizes how much pain she endured without fully realizing it at the time, even placing some of the blame on herself. Finding peace, it seems, required going through that hardship.
Yet Middle of Nowhere makes it clear she isn’t ashamed of her past. Instead, she embraces her return to her roots. Her songwriting feels sharper than ever, the callbacks to earlier material and the guest appearances add texture, but she remains the undeniable focal point. In an era where country often leans into awkward clichés, this album stands as a compelling example of how to portray real life with honesty. In her world, Musgraves is not only the central figure, but also a thoughtful narrator of other people’s stories.
8.3/10
