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Kacey Musgraves Reflects On Having “Follow Your Arrow” Blacklisted From Country Radio: “I Wasn’t Setting Out To Be Some Martyr”
I’d say it was all worth the risk.
Kacey Musgraves announced via The Hollywood Reporter that she signed a new deal with recently-relaunched Lost Highway Records, which was a famous label that closed in 2012, just a year after former label head Luke Lewis retired, who signed Kacey to her very first deal. It will now be run by Robert Knotts and Jake Gear, and Kacey will obviously be one of the biggest names on the roster.
Her first risk came with her Platinum-certified debut single “Merry Go ‘Round,” which she was encouraged not to release to country radio… but Kacey felt called to put it out into the world, and she wound up winning the Grammy Award for Best Country Song at the 56th Grammy Awards with it, though it failed to crack the Top 10 on country radio. It peaked at #10 on the U.S. Billboard Country Airplay chart, and is still her highest-charting radio single to date, which sounds hard to believe, but it’s true, sadly.
But if that one was controversial enough for the label to caution her from putting it out, you can imagine how risky it was for her to send “Follow Your Arrow” to country radio… Kacey told THR that label people once again cautioned her against that, because of the references to the LGBTQ+ community (keep in mind, this was over ten years ago). It was largely blacklist across the country, but that didn’t matter to her at all, even as a young artist really trying to make a name for herself.
She explained that she was okay with it failing, because she would’ve been happy if she ended up shoveling “sh*t for a living” at horse barn if the whole music thing didn’t work out:
“Oh my gosh, it was so controversial. I was told not to, and all these reasons why. I was nervous, because Luke Lewis had left, Lost Highway had folded, and I was already halfway through making ‘Same Trailer, Different Park,’ my first real creative statement to the world. I was just scared they wouldn’t accept what I was already putting my heart into.
‘Arrow’ was the last song I turned in for that record. It ended up tanking — it was banned by country radio. But I would never trade that for the love and the people it brought to my world. I’m not going to present a watered-down version of myself to be accepted. I’ll ****ing shovel s*** for a living at a horse barn, and I’ll be really happy. Or I’ll just be a songwriter. Anyway, it ended up working out.”
She also explained that she never tried to make it some sort of anthem or break “rules” on purpose, but she wanted to be true to herself and the stories she wanted to tell with her music:
“It’s funny, though, because I wasn’t setting out to be some martyr or freaking rule-breaker. I’m just doing my job as a songwriter. When you look at country music as a genre and where it started, it is really textured, beautiful layers of real stories, heartbreak, things that aren’t always easy to talk about. It’s stories for the everyday person. And that’s what always draws me back to country music: It’s there for you, no matter what you’re going through.”
Country music has long been the genre where people go to tell authentic stories and even push boundaries on what is acceptable to talk about, and whether you like it or not, if we don’t have artists that are willing to push the limits, then we’re heading down the wrong path in my humble opinion.
While the release of her 2024 Deeper Well album definitely felt more like the Kacey we fell in love with on her first couple albums, it certainly wasn’t a “traditional” country album by any means, though she says the new music she’s working on for Lost Highway certainly falls more in line with some of her earlier stuff, which would make sense considering the label switch”:
“I’ve written a ton of songs already. I love being in a period of time where I’m not rushed by a deadline and have the space to mosey and poke around. I’m not sure yet where it’s going to end up. There was ‘Same Trailer,’ then ‘Pageant Material’ went even harder in the country direction — it was a love letter to all the classic country I love. Naturally, it felt good for me to explore some other sounds, and I went into Golden Hour territory.
Then I went through a divorce and was in a really intense place in my life, and I went in the opposite direction with ‘Star Crossed.’ With ‘Deeper Well,’ I swung back in toward my center. I’ve been feeling really good playing around with some more — I want to say ‘traditional’ — but at the same time, there always has to be a modern edge there in some way. There has to be a balance between tradition and future.”
I try not to get too excited when artists like Kacey say stuff like that because I would love nothing more than for that to be true, but I don’t want to end up disappointed if it’s not totally what I imagine… but either way, I’m really excited to hear that she’s already working on new music and heading out to a number of festivals this year.
To coincide with the launch of Lost Highway and Kacey’s involvement again, she released a beautiful cover of Hank Williams’ classic, “Lost Highway”:
“Follow Your Arrow”
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