LOS ANGELES, CA — Kacey Musgraves has been one of country music’s most enchanting artists, known for her ability to be real, vulnerable and speak her mind.
As an artist, Musgraves isn’t afraid to step outside of the box, writing songs like “Follow Your Arrow” back in 2013 in support of cannabis and the gay community, which country radio wasn’t used to hearing. In 2019, she released the four-time Grammy-award winning Album of the Year Golden Hour, with singles “Slow Burn” and “Butterflies,” where Musgraves reflected on her own “golden hour” in her personal life, from falling in love to marriage and her rising music career told through a psychedelic-infused sound. In 2021, Musgraves released the passionate pop-infused post-divorce album Star-Crossed, where she reflected on the toxicity of being a “breadwinner” and navigating the “hookup scene.” This year’s 2024 release of Deeper Well sees Musgraves going back to her country folk roots in an era of seeking peace, healing and grounding — the theme for her Deeper Well World Tour.
The singer brought her Deeper Well World Tour to the KIA Forum in Inglewood, CA, for two nights on Oct. 3 and 4, where she reflected on the course of her career and played songs in homage to some of her career’s greatest hits.
She opened with Deeper Well album opener “Cardinal” to Golden Hour‘s “Butterflies” and back to Deeper Well‘s “Sway.” She then went into “Golden Hour” and “Lonely Weekend.” Her opening songs seemed somber, mellow, and reflective. Personally, the jumping from album to album and paying tribute to some of her greatest hits seemed too early in the set, whereas I would have loved for Musgraves to jump fully into Deeper Well, bringing us into her world of healing and finding peace, and then going into her throwback songs.
As Musgraves entered the stage, featuring a round mountain slope that turned into a planet during her set, she rang true to her “spaceykacey” name. During “Cardinal” we saw her lie down and be levitated in the air by the song’s end, calling back her music video. In “Too Good To Be True,” Musgraves opened up to the audience about the fears of falling in love again after being hurt. As one of my favorite moments of the show, she sweetly sang with her acoustic guitar: “Please don’t make me regret / Opening up that part of myself / That I’ve been scared to give again / Be good to me, and I’ll be good to you / But please don’t be too good to be true.”
The visual production for her show was stunning, dreamy and beautiful. Most of her show played like a filmed concert, with visuals to each song matching the lyrics and vibe, from butterflies in “Butterflies” to golden hour hues in “Golden Hour” and dramatic greens in “Jade Green.” Lyrics from “Happy & Sad” were displayed, and she left a lonely text of “Lonely” in the background to “Lonely Weekend,” with a meme of Kermit the Frog looking out a rainy window-glass during the song’s bridge, causing a chuckle in the audience.
Throughout Musgraves’ set, her command of the stage and ability to speak directly to her fans was a feat. Her voice and instrumentation sound brilliant and beautiful live, no doubt.
Eight songs in, she made her way towards the middle of the stadium for an intimate little jam on the Saturn stage, adorned with a lush green floor and planet hanging above. The choice was beautiful, as it was a chance for fans to see Kacey up-close and personal, as she sat down with her guitar and bandmates to reflect on the course of her career, as she made her way as a songwriter and experimented with her songs and writing and sounds over the years, since moving from Texas to Nashville at the age of 19.
“I moved to Nashville in 2008 from Texas, and I didn’t know many people at the time, but I quickly met some of my best friends and most treasured collaborators,” Musgraves reflected. “I got the chance to be a songwriter as my job … I started writing songs and finding things that felt like my own story and would be the songs that I’d want to put out if I wanted to say something to the world as an artist myself. It came time to make my first record and this next one was one of the last ones songs we wrote, and actually one of the people I wrote it with is here tonight, Shane McNalley.” The audience roared in applause. “You hear that Shane, they love ya!”
Musgraves went on to explain: “I wasn’t trying to make some crazy statement or make some political waves or be some sort of rebel or anything like that. It was just me taking things that were really impactful in my actual real life and putting them into songs. I just felt like I was doing my job as a songwriter, you know. I do come from country music, I’ll always love country music, and there’s a lot to love about the genre. I’ll always have one foot in that genre and then you guys give me the creative freedom to explore all the other stuff that I love to and I’m so grateful for that.”
“One thing that I love most about country music is that it’s a genre built on real people and real stories … and so I just never really understood why it wouldn’t evolve to include everyone’s emotions and everyone’s stories,” Musgraves explained. “They said you’re gonna go down in flames for this and I said, well at least we’ll be going down in flames for something I really believe in.”
She then went on to sing an intimate, slowed-down version of “Follow Your Arrow.”
Musgraves then went on to play “Family Is Family” from 2015’s Pageant Material, to her newer songs “The Architect” and “Giver/Taker” to a folk cover of SZA’s “Kill Bill” with opening band Nickel Creek. After a Renaissance Faire-inspired parade back to the stage, with her band wearing a wolf and rabbit mask while Musgraves waved a rainbow ribbon, she went on to perform the lush green “Jade Green” onstage, reflecting on “bath[ing] in the moonlight until I’m fully charged.” Then, she went into one of her biggest hits “Slow Burn.”
Musgraves went down a spiral of some of her fan favorites from Golden Hour and Deeper Well before seemingly reluctantly saying, “Let’s give some love to Star-Crossed” and playing the lead single “justified” from that album.
She then performed the beginning of her own rendition of Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” before going into her famed disco-country hit “High Horse.” Although the tone of the night was more slow and reflective, it was at this point in the set where the energy amped up in the arena and beach balls were set out into the audience during “High Horse.” I loved it, but the moment felt a little jarring to go from some deeply reflective songs to suddenly an upbeat hit.
From there, Musgraves played the titular song “Deeper Well” from her newest album, saying to the audience, “Have you felt we have gone deep enough?” She then closed with “Rainbow.”
Overall, Musgraves had some really great, beautiful and powerful moments throughout her set. Each of her songs were played beautifully with stunning visuals and Musgraves’ Southern charm. However, the pacing of the songs seemed a little off throughout the night, as it was clear Musgraves wanted to cater to fans who may or may not have seen her live yet, playing Golden Hour hits early on and throughout her entire set, to a mid-way throwback to deeper cuts halfway through. Only 9 out of 22 of the songs she played were from Deeper Well, which I would have assumed would have made up the majority of her set. It didn’t quite feel like an immersion into Deeper Well as I would have liked, though her show did pay homage to some of her career’s greatest hits. As I had last seen Musgraves back in 2022 during her Star-Crossed tour, she relied heavily on playing to the theme of drama and “star-crossed lovers” then, balancing two great albums Golden Hour and Star-Crossed (and a stripped-down acoustic “Merry Go Round” from Same Trailer, Different Park). Though I may be remiss to have expected the themes of Deeper Well to be played out little more, it was still a treat to hear and see Musgraves play her songs and, most notably, be in a period of reflection and gratitude over her career and what she has accomplished. The writing and sonic soundscape Musgraves has created and shared with us over the years has been special, and it’s been incredible to follow her journey.
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