Photo by Kelly Christine Sutton

These past few years have been a little tougher if you count yourself as a Kacey Musgraves O.G. listener who originally fell for her slice-of-life country-pop traditionalism coupled with a progressive style of storytelling, all punctuated by her wry writ. The sparkle on it with Golden Hour deservedly made the Texan songwriter an acclaimed household name and put her on bigger stages than ever, but her pivot toward more explicit mainstream-baiting pop and indie-folk music hasn’t quite hit the same way that it used to.

It’s really no surprise that we’re being reminded that Musgraves works her best magic when she’s not concerned with going Hollywood, but rather keeping it simple in the “Middle of Nowhere”. As the latest preview, opener, and title track off the star’s seventh studio album, this is a perfect example of how she’s never needed all those overproduced bells and whistles, but rather just the waning guitar and thistle she introduced her pure musings from in that small town trailer park. “Gonna find my own peace, I wanna be / Somewhere in the middle of nowhere,” she sings. In other words, she’s found her way back home.

Kacey Musgraves’ Middle of Nowhere will be released May 1st on Lost Highway Records.