Kacey Musgraves has a new label and a new single.
The 8-time Grammy Award-winning artist is starting a new chapter as she signed to Nashville-based Lost Highway Records. While the thought of changing record labels is always scary, Lost Highway is family to Musgraves as she was signed with the label in 2011, before they were absorbed by Mercury Nashville in 2012 while Musgraves was working on her debut studio album, Same Trailer, Different Park.
Now the label has relaunched and signed Musgraves as their first artist.
“Lost Highway was always a musical stable for artists who might be considered outliers or outlaws; those who live on the fringe. In 2011, when other record labels questioned my songwriting and my more traditional country sound, Lost Highway believed in me, signing me to my first label deal and helped me take my music around the world.
That journey has now come full circle in such a special way with John Janick and Interscope and I’m deeply honored to be able to once again call Lost Highway my musical home.”
In honor of this new musical relationship, Musgraves is releasing a new single. Her interpretation of Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway.” Originally penned and recorded by Leon Payne in 1948, Hank Williams famously covered the tune a year later in 1949. Payne wrote the song while hitchhiking from California to Alba, Texas, (right next to Kacey’s hometown of Golden) to visit his sick mother, and he was eventually given a ride by The Salvation Army. While he was waiting for a kind driver to pick him up to help him get to his destination, he penned the tune.
The lyrics highlight the nomadic lifestyle that many musicians have lived, either busking in various cities or moving to a town with a dream and little to their name, determined to make it big. Not to forget that road dog lifestyle of touring musicians also highlights a nomadic lifestyle.
Musgraves’ rendition of the tune captures the old-timey feel in a modern world with a slight buzz in the background, like an old tape cassette captured the tune. Musgraves also features her grandparents on the track, with her grandfather reading the intro to the song:
@baylor276 she’s so genuine. and the grandparents? Sobbing. #foryoupage @kaceymusgraves ♬ original sound – Bay 🌊
The primarily acoustic tune has a chug to the melody that keeps a consistent tempo while Musgraves beautifully lays down the lyrics with stunning harmonies.
“I’m a rolling stone, all alone and lost
For a life of sin, I have paid the cost
When I pass by, all the people say
‘Just another boy down the lost highway’
Just a deck of cards and a jug of wine
And a woman’s lies make a life like mine
Oh, the day we met, I went astray
I started rollin’ down that lost highway”
Along with the single, Musgraves also shared a visual for the tune, showing her Texas roots with an armadillo created by Musgraves, Daniel Tashian, and Ian Fitchuk. This song is the perfect start to his new chapter, giving a nod to her new label.
Fire it up.
