The knock on Kacey Musgraves’ sophomore album, Pageant Material is that it doesn’t stray very far from the formula that made her debut record so great.
That’s a tough criticism because it punishes the artist for doing what she does best. It’s also the sort of criticism that fades with time. Separated from the expectations of a much-anticipated new release, Pageant Material will one day be remembered as a collection of solid, enjoyable songs.
Kacey Musgraves’ sophomore release, Pageant Material, didn’t disappoint me the way the other albums featured this week did, but it doesn’t quite live up to her excellent debut.
Musgraves has been hailed as country’s biggest blend of artistic talent and commercial appeal since Miranda Lambert, so expectations for this album were high. And she smartly side-stepped them, delivering a more low-key, traditional album rather than aiming for some sort of statement record.
My affection for country music blossomed toward the end of the 00s and really took hold during the first half of this decade.
A quarter of this top twenty list (even more depending on how you categorize some artists) is dedicated to country performers.
Best Songs of 2013 – #5
In the Year of Country Women, the biggest splash was made by Kacey Musgraves, whose refreshing millennial outlook landed her on Ellen and landed her debut album, Same Trailer Different Park, on both the country and mainstream charts.
Musgraves strikes me as a grown-up version of Taylor Swift (and I don’t mean that as a slight to Swift, whose best work evokes the adolescent experience beautifully). Her songs are simple, memorable and deceptively deep.
A few weeks back I posted that I had just ordered Same Trailer Different Park, the major label debut of Kacey Musgraves.
Musgraves is the shiny new object in country music circles, drawing favorable comparisons to both Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift. Her embrace of gay rights caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres and the fact that those lyrics haven’t put her in the country music doghouse is a great sign for the future.
Meet Me In Montauk 