The Town Ballroom books about everything under the sun, but isn’t known for booking country acts. Kacey Musgraves’ beautiful presence graced the stage this past Saturday night. The 26 year old brings a taste of new country but her roots are more old country than anything else. Playing Farm Aid in 2013 and then opening up for Willie Nelson last year really expanded Musgraves into new found territories. The show at the Ballroom was well attended as she did a full set of material that lasted well over an hour and a half.
Coming out in a strapless country outfit, Musgraves delivered on her first track “Silver Lining.” Mixing it up throughout the show, Musgraves donned a guitar or sang acapella except on the song “My House” when she played the harmonica. Her band members were dressed in matching outfits. Their shirts all had bulbs that lit up. The rest of the stage had a few cacti on it and really had a desert country kind of vibe.
Musgraves dedicated “The Trailer Song” to those noisy neighbors that “I know everyone has,” she quipped. Musgraves really warmed the audience in between songs even playing along with a drunk. She said, “I know you’re here, you were at the meet and greet earlier.” She played along with him some more without getting too annoyed. Musgraves couldn’t believe the winter we were having and talked about the area’s snow. She also unexpectedly played a snippet of Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” which is making news due to its lyrical content. She talked about how stupid the controversy seems even if it’s about lesbians, which it isn’t. She then proceeded to talk about the next song as a tune she did with Katy Perry on the show “Crossroads” titled “Step off.” Musgraves doesn’t have overpowering vocals but she is able to sing with a purpose and her lyrics are catchy and sometimes funny as evident in “Stupid” and “Biscuits.” In “Biscuits,” a verse goes like this: “Just hoe your own row and raise your own babies. Smoke your own smoke and grow your own daisies. Mend your own fences and own your own crazy. Mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy.”
Musgraves also talked about how she did a tour of the Ballroom earlier in the day and heard that the place was uber haunted. She found that to be fascinating and talked about it for a bit. She also killed it on the TLC cover “No Scrubs,” making it her own and nailing it.
As mentioned before, Musgraves is one of the few current country artists that still has that connection to old country music. She exhibits that in her songs and in her show. If you wanted to know who she reminds me of, I would say if you took June Cash, Loretta Lynn and Tanya Tucker and put them all together you would have Kacey Musgraves. That’s not a bad thing at all!
Setlist:
Silver Lining
Stupid
Blowin’ Smoke
Biscuits
I Miss You
High Time
The Trailer Song
Keep it to Yourself
Back on the Map
Name
No Scrubs (TLC cover)
Girl Crush (Little Big Town cover snippet)
It is what it is
Step Off/3 Birds (Bob Marley & The Wailers cover)
Merry Go ‘Round
My House
Encore: (Kacey solo on acoustic)
These Boots are Made for Walkin’ (Lee Hazelwood cover)
Follow Your Arrow
Happy Trails (Roy Rogers cover)
We would like to thank Katie Admire from Sandbox Entertainment for credentials to review the show.
