Kacey Musgraves was still coming down from winning the Recording Academy’s top honor of album of the year when she met with press backstage at Sunday’s (Feb. 10) Grammy awards.
Holding her trophy, she said Golden Hour went farther than she ever thought it could. The collection was also named best country album, and “Space Cowboy” won best country song.
“The country album [win] means a lot to me because that’s where my heart is,” Musgraves said. “That’s where I grew up. I grew up singing traditional western swing, and there’s no way I can get rid of that in me. I love that so much. But to say that something that I’m part of is the best of out of a year — a year which was thriving with creativity, uniqueness and bold creators stepping out with something to say. The weight of that won’t hit me for a very long time.”
Musgraves added that her sweep will continue to inspire her to make music that’s true to her.
“I’m just being a songwriter, taking things out of real life that have made an impact on me in some way, so the only pressure I feel is to continue to fight for the songs and what I want to say and who I want to be,” Musgraves said. “That’s really my only compass here. But I’m proud to be part of a genre that’s built on real stories, and I’ll continue to always write about what inspires me. And it might not always sound country, but it’s always going to be something that comes from somewhere very real for me.
“It’s not even fun for me to try and construct something that doesn’t feel like me,” she added. “I have no interest in it. But when I think of all of us out there who just love music. We love it when it hits a nerve no matter what it sounds like and we’re all made of the same stuff, all the same emotions, and we all need the same things to survive in that way. And so, I feel if you just pay attention to that, that’s what makes it into your songs. That’s what I’m looking for as far as what I want to hear.”
She added that she didn’t see this kind of acceptance coming at all.
“This album is a lot different than the other ones I’ve made,” she said. “Anytime you do that, there’s a little bit of a question mark to, ‘What are the people going to say who have loved what I’ve put out before?’ I think there are people who always want you to say the same. In a way that’s a compliment because that means they like what you do. But I wouldn’t be doing anyone a favor or myself a favor if I just stayed in that for that reason.”
