Kacey Musgraves Delivers ACM Awards Debut “Sitting on the Washing Machine”

Kacey Musgraves has been pushing boundaries her entire career. Releasing her major label debut Same Trailer Different Park in 2013, the born-and-raised East Texan encouraged country music audiences to “follow your arrow wherever it points.” She further expanded the genre’s reach with 2018’s Golden Hour, marrying country music with decidedly less Nashville influences like disco and yacht rock. Despite always indulging her wandering impulses, Musgraves has remained firmly rooted in country, as evidenced by her seventh studio album, Middle of Nowhere, which dropped May 1. Exploring the “in-between” spaces of human emotion, she also opened the genre’s sonic borders, allowing Western swing, bluegrass, and traditional Mexican influences to trickle in. On Sunday (May 17), Kacey Musgraves made her ACM Awards debut with her new song “Dry Spell”.

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Kacey Musgraves Takes the ACM Awards Stage for the First Time

Despite being a seven-time winner, this year marks Kacey Musgraves’ first time taking the stage during the ACM Awards at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Kacey Musgraves performing “Dry Spell” at the #ACMawards. pic.twitter.com/GkXhE8aX36

— Kacey Musgraves Access (@KaceyAccess) May 18, 2026

Dressed simply in a white tank top and denim shorts, the 37-year-old singer-songwriter started off the performance with a nod to her grandmother’s least favorite “Dry Spell” lyric: sitting on top of a washing machine.

"Lonely with a capital H…" Kacey Musgraves #ACMAwards

— Rachel Tootsiepop (@tootsiepop6) May 18, 2026

She then recreated the song’s definitely-not-PG music video, delivering the performance from inside a “Country Mart” full of double entendres.

While country radio hasn’t always embraced Musgraves’ brazen songwriting, it’s exactly what keeps fans coming back for more. The “High Horse” singer spoke about being “different” following the 2019 ACM Awards, during which she took home Female Artist of the Year and Album of the Year honors (for Golden Hour).

“If you do have a unique sound or unique style or perspective to offer, you’re going to be told that it’s too different or that it’s not going to work or it doesn’t make sense…and that’s, truthfully, just the industry being lazy,” she said.

[RELATED: Kacey Musgraves Calls Country “Home” While Pushing the Genre Forward With ‘Middle of Nowhere’]

Squashing Beef and Making History

In yet another of Middle of Nowhere’s endless delights, Kacey Musgraves and fellow 2026 ACM Awards performer Miranda Lambert put to rest a long-rumored feud on “Horses and Divorces”.

The Texas dancehall-inspired track debuted at No. 84 on Billboard‘s Hot 100. According to Whiskey Riff, the pair are the first ladies to debut on the chart with an all-female country duet since 2014.

The two women co-wrote “Horses and Divorces” with prolific Nashville songwriter Shane McAnally, who also co-wrote and co-produced Musgraves’ “Follow Your Arrow”.

“My heart was beating so fast because I’m a crazy country music fan, and these two women are my Dolly and Loretta,” McAnally told Variety of the songwriting process. “And they both switched roles; I’m not saying who is who, but there was no ego in it. They have so much respect for each other, and I got to be a part of what I really do believe is history.”

Featured image by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for Coachella