In 2013, I discovered Kacey Musgraves.

Deep into the beginning of what would be a four-year arch in the country music industry, I discovered a woman in the genre that was outspoken and left of center. Immediately, I gravitated to her art like a moth to a flame.

Musgraves wasn’t an artist that simply fell in your lap because radio forced you to listen. You had to find her. When I found her, I remember thinking that if more artists made music this honest country music might be a genre nationally loved (again). She was authentic and real. She didn’t care what anyone thought. She was the perfect artist for this outspoken California girl that fell into country music as if by accident to discover.

Over the last six years I’ve watched the incredible journey of her career. A spark that lit a match that started a full on fire. She grew better. She grew brighter. She grew up and settled into a sound that was so her.

I have loved every album. Each seemed to fall into a place in my life where it just made sense. Even Golden Hour, an album that’s seemingly about the beauty of falling in love (of which I’ve not experienced with another human), suddenly appeared in my life while I was having a renaissance with New York City.

As I traveled over new landscapes, discovered hidden gems in the city, wandered further up north — Golden Hour was the soundtrack to my love affair. It was, honestly, my most listened to album of 2018 (Spotify can confirm).

I don’t need to tell you how effortless Musgraves is on stage. She embodies what she sings. She is the music and it makes you feel alive. Seeing her headline for the first time made me feel like both a proud mama and teenybopper fangirl — and I’m not sorry about either of those things.

She is an artist with a voice that goes beyond the melody. It says something and it means what it says.

Show Highlights:

• Bouncin’ balls during High Horse

• A chill acoustic version of Merry Go Round

• Wonder Woman

• The crowd singing Follow Your Arrow together

• Rainbow made me cry

Thank you, Kacey Musgraves, for showing NYC a little bit of your beautiful yeehaw magic.

Photos by Maju Gonzalez.