Kacey Musgraves took the longest dry spell of her life and turned it into a single. “Dry Spell,” the lead song from her new album Middle of Nowhere, is a twangy, funny confession about 335 days of abstinence, and its video, co-directed by Musgraves and Hannah Lux Davis, finds her roaming a grocery store, noticing the sensuality in everyday errands. The album is out May 1 on Lost Highway.
The 13-song record features Willie Nelson (“Uncertain, Texas”), Miranda Lambert (“Horses and Divorces”), who would later go country disco on Crisco, Billy Strings (“Everybody Wants To Be a Cowboy”) and Gregory Alan Isakov (“Coyote”). Musgraves produced it with longtime collaborators Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk. The title comes from a sign she spotted in her small hometown of Golden, Texas, which has fewer than 300 people, Rolling Stone says.
What it’s about
In her statement, Musgraves said the record was made over the longest single stretch of her life without a partner. “I found that for the first time, it actually felt incredible being alone and existing in a space not defined by anyone else,” she said. “I became fascinated with the concept of liminal space, both geographical and emotional.” She split the recording between Texas, Tennessee and Mexico, and her press release calls the album “a sonic love letter to the musical borders of Country,” with touches of bluegrass, pop, Norteño and Zydeco, The FADER reports.
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The rollout has been playful. Billboard says she teased the record with highway billboards and social posts in which she and Lambert traded comments about having previously trash-talked each other. That led to speculation that the two were feuding or about to release a duet. The latter was correct.
Why it matters
Middle of Nowhere is her first album since 2024’s Deeper Well, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and included “The Architect,” which won the Grammy for best country song, bringing her to eight wins. It is also her first release since returning to Lost Highway, the label that first signed her in 2011. When she announced that move last year, she was clear that it wasn’t a pivot: “I want to make it super clear that I never left,” she said of country. “It’s always been a home base.”
The record later turned up on the critics’ lists we rounded up for the best albums of 2026 so far.
Middle of NowhereKacey MusgravesListen on Apple Music
- Album
- *Middle of Nowhere*, 13 songs
- Out
- May 1 via Lost Highway
- Lead single
- “Dry Spell”
- Producers
- Kacey Musgraves, Daniel Tashian, Ian Fitchuk
Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.
