Kacey Musgraves tapped a country legend for her forthcoming LP. In an interview with NPR, the singer discussed “Uncertain, TX,” the Willie Nelson feature that’s set to appear on her new album, Middle of Nowhere.
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“I had to have Willie on this song,” Musgraves said. “He’s like the patriarch of truth in so many ways.”
It’s for that reason that Musgraves wanted Nelson to be the narrator of the track.
“That song, ‘Uncertain, TX,’ while it is about a real town in East Texas, I had fun imagining that it’s this place where people can never really actually make up their minds,” she said. “Is it a town full of f**kboys where accountability is optional and you just swipe, swipe, swipe and slide to the next option?”
“The song is an acknowledgement of that very transient modern dating behavior after what I went through, and the perfect person to help throw a little bit of shade to that is everybody’s favorite grandpa, Willie Nelson,” Musgraves added. “He might even be a great-great-grandpa, but he’s also a gangster.”
Kacey Musgraves Discusses Her Miranda Lambert Duet
Another duet on Middle of Nowhere is “Horses and Divorces,” on which Musgraves sings alongside Miranda Lambert.
The duet was a surprise to many, as the women had been engulfed in a quasi-feud over the years. The situation dated back to Lambert recording “Mama’s Broken Heart,” a song that Musgraves co-wrote and wanted to perform herself.
“We’d lost touch for years and wouldn’t consider each other friends,” Musgraves said of life after the 2013 song’s release. “I saw her on Instagram one day, riding one of her horses, and I was like, ‘Well, we ain’t friends, but I guess we have two things in common, horses and divorces, that’s for sure. Wait, that could be a really funny song. What if it’s a duet with her? What if I got her to write on it?’”
Musgraves decided to shoot her shot and reach out to Lambert, writing, “I know we’ve had our s**t over the years, but listen, we’ve at least got two things in common. I’m not trying to be your friend. You got your life, I have mine. But I think this would be a pretty f**king funny song, and we should write it with Shane [McAnally].’”
Lambert quickly responded, telling Musgraves, “Hell yeah, I’m in, let’s do it.”
“It was very full circle in so many ways,” Musgraves said. “We aired out any of the old laundry. We had some laughs and wrote the song in a matter of a few hours.”
The track, Musgraves said, is “a micro representation of what I wish that the world would do sometimes, just f**king sit down and poke fun at each other, have a beer and call it a day.”
Middle of Nowhere is due out May 1.
Photo by Image Group LA/ABC via Getty Images
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