Keith Urban walked away with the biggest trophy of the night for Entertainer of the Year, and Dan+Shay walked away with the most trophies with three. But it was Kacey Musgraves who arguably won the 2019 ACM Awards Sunday evening (4-7) as she walked away with both Album of the Year for Golden Hour, and Female Artist of the Year.
They Grammy Awards have much greater implications than just some trophies to collect dust on the mantles of artists for years to come. In 2019, the recipients of some of the biggest awards and screen time were worthy country artists, and that has translated into some big sales and streaming boosts.
Some still consider Kacey Musgraves a performer prone to political activism due to some of the early songs in career such as the award-winning “Merry Go ‘Round” and “Follow Your Arrow.” But Musgraves these days is in a much more different place, despite how the media attempted to portray it.
The coverage of Kacey Musgraves’ ‘Golden Hour’ has displayed such an aberration of truths, perspective, knowledge of the country and roots realm, and in some instances even common sense, it illustrates a widespread embarrassment for the entire music media pool, and the journalism industry in general.
Golden Hour is definitely a move to a more pop, and less country approach to the music by Kacey Musgraves. But it’s far from the rebuke of country some are salivating to characterize it as for their ulterior purposes. Instead, Golden Hour is a mild-mannered, mid tempo and dreamy collection of Kacey Musgraves musings.
The new Kacey Musgraves album Golden Hour will finally be arriving from Mercury Nashville. Her 3rd official LP was produced by Ian Fitchuk, and Daniel Tashian, and is preceded by the release of two songs “Space Cowboy” and “Butterflies”—at least via streaming and download services.
As we near the end of 2017, it’s time to start thinking about some of the records we expect to see in the coming year. And since it’s been some 2 1/2 years since Kacey Musgraves released a record of new original material, she would be one on the short list of who to anticipate will be showing up with new music.