The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show

American singer (born 1988)

Kacey MusgravesMusgraves performing in 2024Background informationBornKacey Lee Musgraves (1988-08-21) August 21, 1988 (age 37)Sulphur Springs, Texas, USOriginMineola, Texas, USGenres Country pop folk Occupations Singer songwriter musician Instruments Vocals guitar banjo mandolin harmonica keyboards Years active1999–presentLabels Mercury Nashville MCA Nashville Interscope Lost Highway Spouse Ruston Kelly ​ ​(m. 2017&#59; div. 2020)​Websitekaceymusgraves.comMusical artist Kacey Lee Musgraves (born August 21, 1988) is an American singer and songwriter. She began her career in the early 2000s, when she self-released three solo albums and recorded another album as a member of the duo Texas Two Bits. In 2007, Musgraves appeared on the fifth season of the USA Network singing competition Nashville Star, where she finished in seventh place. In 2012, she signed with Mercury Nashville and released the hit single "Merry Go 'Round". Her major-label debut studio album, Same Trailer Different Park (2013), won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. Musgraves' second studio album, Pageant Material (2015), debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart and yielded the critically and commercially successful singles "Biscuits" and "Dime Store Cowgirl". She released a Christmas-themed album, A Very Kacey Christmas (2016). Her fourth studio album Golden Hour (2018) was released to widespread critical acclaim and won all four of its nominated Grammy Award categories, including Album of the Year and Best Country Album. The album's first two singles, "Space Cowboy" and "Butterflies", won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance, respectively. Musgraves' fifth studio album, Star-Crossed (2021), became her fourth top-ten album on the Billboard 200. In 2023, she was featured on the single "I Remember Everything" by Zach Bryan, which debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and won a Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Her sixth studio album, Deeper Well (2024), peaked at number two on the Billboard 200, and the album's single "The Architect" won the Grammy Award for Best Country Song. Musgraves has won eight Grammy Awards, seven Country Music Association Awards, and four Academy of Country Music Awards.

[edit] Kacey Lee Musgraves was born August 21, 1988, in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and grew up in Golden, Texas. Her parents are Karen (née Abrams), an artist, and Craig Musgraves, owner of a small printing business, M-Prints Printing, Inc., in Mineola, Texas. Kacey said that she was born six weeks prematurely and weighed only five pounds. She has a younger sister, Kelly Christine Sutton (née Musgraves), who is a photographer and at times has photographed some of Kacey's work including in the Cotswolds in South West England. Kacey Musgraves started writing songs at age eight. Her first song, "Notice Me," was for her elementary-school graduation. She first learned to play music on the mandolin, then at age 12 started taking guitar lessons from a local musician named John DeFoore, which she later described as "one of the most important things that ever happened to me." DeFoore also taught guitar to Miranda Lambert and Riley Thompson. Musgraves learned harmonica too. Musgraves' mother took her to local music festivals to sing western swing music. She and co-student Alina Tatum formed country-music duo Texas Two Bits in 1999, toured through Texas, and released an independent album in 2000, and earned an invitation to perform at President George W. Bush's "Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball". Musgraves also won yodeling national championships and was selected to sing the national anthem at the 2002 Winter Olympics. At age 14, her family funded her first solo, self-released album. She graduated from Mineola High School in Mineola, Texas northwest of Tyler in 2006 and moved to Austin at 18. In 2007, Musgraves competed on Season 5 of the singing competition reality TV series Nashville Star, where she placed seventh. To sustain herself she took various jobs, including performing as Hannah Montana for children's birthday parties.

[edit] 2008–2014: Debut[edit] Musgraves performing in 2014 Musgraves recorded three self-produced albums in 2002, 2003, and 2007. While living in Austin in 2008, she recorded two songs for independent record label Triple Pop. She collaborated with the Josh Abbott Band in 2010 on the song "Oh, Tonight". Musgraves' two acoustic recordings for Triple Pop (covers of OneRepublic's "Apologize" and Miley Cyrus' "See You Again") are available on a digital EP released in 2012. "Apologize" (Acoustic Version) charted in the Billboard Hot Singles Chart at No. 23 on February 15, 2014, and racked up over 31,000,000 streams on Spotify. To commemorate the 10-year anniversary on March 30, 2018, Triple Pop released the "Acoustic Remixed" digital EP, which featured newly remixed and remastered versions of the same recordings. Musgraves joined Lady A on the European leg of their Own the Night Tour in 2012. In 2012, she signed with Mercury Nashville and released her solo debut single "Merry Go 'Round". The song is included on her major-label debut album Same Trailer Different Park, produced and co-written by Musgraves, Shane McAnally and Luke Laird and released on March 19, 2013. The album debuted at number 2, selling 42,000 copies. It produced additional hit singles in "Blowin' Smoke" and "Follow Your Arrow". Rolling Stone magazine listed "Follow Your Arrow" at number 39 of its list of 100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time, and said that Musgraves was "one of the loudest symbols of young country musicians embracing progressive values." "Undermine", a song co-written by Musgraves and Trent Dabbs, was featured in one of the first episodes in the first season of the television series Nashville on October 17, 2012. Musgraves co-wrote Miranda Lambert's 2013 single "Mama's Broken Heart" and sang harmony on the song. Musgraves was nominated for four awards at the 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in 2012, including Female Vocalist of the Year.[citation needed] Musgraves was also nominated for four Grammy Awards at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, tying Taylor Swift and Lorde for the most nominations received by a woman that year. Those nominations included Best New Artist, Best Country Album (Same Trailer Different Park), and Best Country Song for both "Mama's Broken Heart" and "Merry Go 'Round". "Merry Go 'Round" won the Best Country Song Grammy award, and Same Trailer Different Park won in Best Country Album. Musgraves joined Katy Perry on the North American leg of her Prismatic World Tour as well as Willie Nelson and Alison Krauss on select dates during their tour. Musgraves provided backing vocals for "Bourbon in Kentucky", the lead single on Dierks Bentley's 2013 album Riser. In April 2014, Musgraves won the Academy of Country Music award for album of the year for Same Trailer Different Park. In June 2014, she released a new song called The Trailer Song, which she debuted on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Same Trailer Different Park was certified gold in August 2014 for selling over 500,000 copies. Musgraves' single "Follow Your Arrow" was also certified gold, and "Merry Go Round" was certified platinum.

[edit] Musgraves performing at the Pilgrimage Music Festival in September 2016 Influences[edit] Musgraves lists Alison Krauss as one of her career role models, stating, "I mean, how many Grammys does she have? She's just remained solid and true and great, and I respect that". Musgraves' favorite artist is John Prine and, in a tribute performance to him after his death in April 2020, she said that "my favorite quality of John's would be his sense of humor and it really influenced my songwriting a lot" and proclaimed "that man singlehandedly influenced me and my songwriting more than anyone else on this planet". She lists Lee Ann Womack as one of her childhood influences: "Lee Ann Womack is from near where I grew up in East Texas, so I've always looked up to her." Musgraves spoke of both Prine and Womack, "if I could sing it like Lee Ann would and say it like John would, then I feel like I've gotten somewhere". Musgraves listed albums by Glen Campbell, Bobbie Gentry, Marty Robbins, Charley Pride, Merle Haggard, Roger Miller, and Jim Croce as influences on her sophomore album and an interview of hers with Rolling Stone Country cited Willie Nelson, Ray Price, Julie Miller, Patsy Cline, and Loretta Lynn as being other influences. In a Billboard interview, Musgraves said that she is a Dolly Parton fan, saying "Beauty, sex appeal, brains, wit, humor, beautiful songwriting, meaningful songwriting, no apologies for who she is, LGBTQ advocate long before it was even a thing or trendy or whatever... She's fearless and I admire her spirit a lot and she's very kind. She's very present when you're talking to her and I just really love her so much." Noncountry artists whom Musgraves has mentioned as influences include Cher, Selena, Ryan Adams, Cake, Neil Young, Weezer, Imogen Heap, Bee Gees, Sade, and Electric Light Orchestra.

Lyrical themes and style[edit] Critics have said Musgraves is a soprano. Her socially progressive lyrics draw attention in the generally conservative country music genre. Her music has tackled topics such as LGBT acceptance, safe sexual intercourse, recreational marijuana use, and questioning religious sentiment. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Musgraves talked about criticism she faced for her rebellious lyrics. "I think throwing the rebel card out there is really cheap," she said. "The things I'm singing about are not controversial to me, I don't push buttons to push buttons. I talk about things that have made an impression on me that a lot of people everywhere are going through."

[edit] In 2014, in an interview with ABC Radio, Musgraves said her bandmate Misa Arriaga had been her boyfriend for several years after they first became friends and worked together. Musgraves met Ruston Kelly in March 2016 at the Bluebird Café in Nashville. In May 2016, they had a songwriting date, and they began dating shortly after. Musgraves said that the song "Butterflies" from her album Golden Hour is about her courtship with Kelly; many other songs from the album were inspired by Kelly. On December 24, 2016, Musgraves and Kelly were engaged. They married on October 14, 2017, in Tennessee. The couple filed for divorce in July 2020 and it was finalized in September 2020. From 2021 to 2023, Musgraves was in a relationship with Cole Schafer, a poet.

[edit] Main article: Kacey Musgraves discography Same Trailer Different Park (2013) Pageant Material (2015) A Very Kacey Christmas (2016) Golden Hour (2018) Star-Crossed (2021) Deeper Well (2024) Middle of Nowhere (2026)

[edit] Headlining

Same Trailer Different Tour (2013–2015) The Kacey Musgraves Country & Western Rhinestone Revue (2015–2016) A Very Kacey Christmas Tour (2016) Oh, What a World: Tour (2018–2019) Oh, What a World: Tour II (2019) Star-Crossed: Unveiled (2022) Deeper Well World Tour (2024) Middle of Nowhere Tour (2026) Opening act

50th Anniversary Tour for Loretta Lynn (2012) 2012 Spring Tour for John Mayer; canceled (2012) Own the Night Tour for Lady Antebellum (2012) Tornado Tour for Little Big Town (2013) No Shoes Nation Tour for Kenny Chesney (2013) Take Me Downtown Tour for Lady Antebellum (2013–2014) Together in Concert for Willie Nelson and Family and Alison Krauss and Union Station (2014) Prismatic World Tour for Katy Perry (2014) Strait to Vegas for George Strait (2016) The Breakers Tour for Little Big Town (2018) Harry Styles: Live on Tour for Harry Styles (2018)

[edit] Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Kacey Musgraves At the Grammy Awards, Musgraves has received eight awards from seventeen nominations.

Album of the Year - Golden Hour (2019) Best Country Song - "Merry Go 'Round" (2014), "Space Cowboy" (2019), "The Architect" (2025) Best Country Album - Same Trailer Different Park (2014), Golden Hour (2019) Best Country Solo Performance - "Butterflies" (2019) Best Country Duo/Group Performance - "I Remember Everything" with Zach Bryan (2024)

Even though Kacey Musgraves hails from Texas, her Christmas special lands perfectly on UK sofas. The programme blends classic carols with her signature country‑pop sensibility, giving British viewers a fresh twist on familiar tunes. The gentle inclusion of banjo and mandolin adds an acoustic warmth that mirrors the cosy atmosphere of a winter cottage, while the visual set‑pieces—think twinkling fairy lights and pine‑scented backdrops—echo the décor of a British living‑room Christmas. This cross‑Atlantic blend satisfies those who crave something new yet recognisably festive, making the show a go‑to addition to any UK holiday lineup.

Treat the show as a mini‑concert rather than background noise. Set up a dedicated viewing slot, dim the lights and queue a hot cup of tea or mulled wine. The performance alternates between upbeat originals and quieter, hymn‑like numbers, so pause between songs to savour the lyrics—many reference classic holiday imagery that resonates with UK traditions. If you have a karaoke set‑up, try belting out the choruses; the stripped‑back arrangements make it easy to join in without sounding off‑key. Lastly, keep the subtitles on if you’re watching with the family; the clever wordplay in Musgraves’ verses often hides delightful nods to British Christmas customs.

Many assume a country‑styled Christmas programme will be a ho‑ho‑ho over‑the‑top extravaganza, but Musgraves opts for subtlety. The show avoids the clichés of over‑amped reindeers and instead focuses on storytelling through song, aligning more with the British folk tradition of narrative ballads. Another myth is that the music will be purely upbeat; there are several quiet, reflective tracks that capture the introspective side of the season, perfect for those winter evenings when you’re curled up with a mince‑pie. Understanding this balance helps viewers appreciate the nuance rather than dismissing it as merely ‘American country’.