Kacey Musgraves Wraps Up Breakout Year in Little Rock

by Julian Spivey
Kacey Musgraves wrapped up her 2013 Same Trailer, Different Tour tour with an incredibly fun and entertaining performance at Juanita’s in Little Rock on Saturday, Dec. 14.

The end of the tour also wrapped up quite the whirlwind year for Musgraves who was recently named the Country Music Association’s Best New Artist and nominated for the same award for the 2014 Grammys.

After a fun opening performance from Birmingham, Ala. duo John & Jacob, who recently had their single “Be My Girl” performed by characters on the ABC television series “Nashville” and co-wrote The Band Perry’s hit “Done,” Musgraves took the stage to an uproarious reaction from the small venue crowd.

Musgraves opened her set with the witty “The Trailer Song,” with her and her supremely talented and Western attired band, performing in front of a backdrop that looked like a mobile home. She followed with the rockin’ “Stupid” from her critically acclaimed debut album “Same Trailer, Different Park” and the inspirational “Silver Lining,” one of my personal favorites from her debut.

Musgraves had a few surprises up her sleeve for the Little Rock tour finale the biggest of which was a fun and faithful cover of Weezer’s 2001 hit “Islands in the Sun.” She then rattled off one fantastic song after another from her album, which doesn’t include a bad cut out of the bunch, including: “I Miss You,” “Back On the Map,” “It Is What It Is,” “Keep It To Yourself” and her second single “Blowin’ Smoke,” which really set the packed crowd to moving.

Another pleasant surprise came when Musgraves and her band performed a reggae styled “Step Off,” followed by a portion of the Bob Marley classic “Three Little Birds.” I’m generally not a fan of reggae music and thought the performance worked flawlessly, if that tells you anything about Musgraves’ musical genius.

One of the biggest surprises, and crowd favorites, from her set was her performance of the CMA-nominated “Mama’s Broken Heart,” which she co-wrote with Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally and became a huge hit for Miranda Lambert.

Musgraves also debuted a couple nice songs during her set – the carefree “High Time” and the thought-provoking “Biscuits,” which she performed solo as the first performance of her encore.

The most touching moment from the concert was when Musgraves was overcome with emotion during her performance of “Merry Go ‘Round,” her awards nominated debut single, when the crowd loudly began to sing along. With tears streaming down her face, she attempted to finish the song, but relented and let the audience finish for her. It appeared the emotion was the response to a career making and potentially defining year and the love of her music the fans showed her, but it should be noted she performed the tour finale just hours after learning of the death of her grandmother and did so with gusto and truly gave a kickass performance.

She finished her set with the lovely “My Home,” the crowd once again singing along in unison, complete with a bubble machine sending thousands of tiny bubbles throughout the room.

When she returned for an encore she delighted the packed room with performances of the Christmas classics “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Feliz Navidad,” with the bubble machine making a joyous return to celebrate the holiday season. She then finished the night and her tour off in style with her much beloved current single “Follow Your Arrow,” which is unfortunately (for radio, at least) far too progressive in its lyrical content (pro love who you want to love sentiments) to ever be heard on mainstream radio. Oh well, radio and its listeners might be missing out, but Juanita’s certainly wasn’t on Saturday night.

My only wish for Musgraves is for her to be allowed to continue to write and record the music she’s capable of and wants to record. She seems to have this “be great, but not hugely famous” vibe about her, because of her progressive music in a genre that’s often incredibly close-minded. One thing is certain, however, after her final show of 2013 – her fans absolutely adore her, and it seems the feeling is mutual.