Same Trailer Different Park
Mercury Records
Five Scoops of Bosco
Reviewed by Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco
And here I had almost given up hope that there would be a great next female Country Song Writer in the vein of Dolly Parton.
Then almost out of no where comes along young Kacey Musgraves.
Well, actually it is Mineola, Texas. Like I said, Almost out of nowhere.
You probably know her work even though you didn't realize it. She is the co-writer of the song "Undermine" which was heard on the ABC TV show Nashville this season.
Or maybe you have heard Miranda Lambert's single "Mama's Broken Heart". That was written by Miss Musgraves also.
Musgraves work didn't get by the voters for the Country Music Awards. She was nominated for four awards at the 48th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, including Female Vocalist of the Year.
Her fourth album (Yes she may be 24 but she has done four albums already) and the first one under the Mercury Label, Same Trailer Different Park, will be released on Tuesday.
The single "Merry Go Round", an ode to small town life (which some people have dubbed "The Anti-Country Song") has already gotten airplay on Country Radio across the country.
Her lyrics belie her Sweet and Innocent Voice. Her voice sounds innocent enough, until you start listening to the lyrics, deep and layered, which are unlike most songs heard in country music today.
This album is unabashedly self-autobiographical. They say the best songs and writing in general comes from personal experience. And like another young artist, Jake Bugg, which we highlighted earlier in the year, Kacey Musgraves has packed a lot of living in her short time on the planet.
This album is about her journey from humble beginnings to living her dream of being a country music talent and it plays out like you are reading a good book or watching a good film. Each song is like a chapter, although it falls a bit short of being a concept album.
My favorite song on the album is "Follow Your Arrow"
She recently told an audience, “I’m kind of a big believer in people doing whatever the hell they want to do, since I feel like society is probably going to have an opinion either way.”
Then she began strumming the opening chords of “Follow Your Arrow.” A collective gasp came from the audience in the song’s first line.
“If you save yourself for marriage, you’re a bore.” The next line, “If you don’t save yourself for marriage you’re a horr-,” inspired a second silent gasp that desolved into laughter when she finished it off with “-ible person.”
That particular song is sure to be a controversial one with lyrics like: “So make lots of noise/Kiss lots of boys/Or kiss lots of girls/If that’s something you’re into/And if the straight and narrow gets a little too straight/Roll up a joint, or don’t/And follow your arrow wherever it points.”
Even there is a bit of a bluesy approach in her songwriting, Musgraves always leaves us with optimism.
Whether singing about a manual labor job in "Blowin' Smoke," thinking about leaving in a motorhome in "My House" or re-thinking a one-night stand in "It Is What It Is", she's a person determined to make her life better.
Some of this music is going to fit right on country radio, like the kiss-off song "Stupid," or "I Miss You,"
But there are also songs like "Back on the Map," that shows how Musgraves fits in with the likes of great female songwriters (not just country songwriters) like Aimee Mann.
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