This week, Kacey Musgraves released her sixth studio album Middle of Nowhere, which Musgraves produced alongside longtime collaborators Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk.
She of course included the highly-anticipated duet with Miranda Lambert, “Horses and Divorces,” in addition to the super talented Billy Strings on the album. She also featured legendary Texan, Willie Nelson, on a song called “Uncertain, TX,” which she previously debuted solo at Coachella.
It finds her frustrated with how no one in the town of Uncertain, Texas, can make up their minds. Uncertain is a real town in her home state, about 100 miles east of her home town of Golden, but obviously, everything in this song is made up and she used it as a jumping off point to imagine this entire scenario with the men there.
Having the red headed stranger sing on it is an added bonus, and Kacey previously said in an interview with NPR Music’s Jewly Hight that Willie is “the patriarch of truth,” explaining that that the song is about a “town full of f***boys,” and the nature of transient modern dating behavior where Willie helps her throw some shade. She knows he might even be a “great-great-grandpa” at this point, but he’s “still a gangster”:
“I had to have Willie on this song. He’s like the patriarch of truth in so many ways. It was important for him to be the narrator, because that song, ‘Uncertain, TX,’ while it is about a real town in East Texas, I had fun imagining that it’s this place where people can never really actually make up their minds.
Is it a town full of f***boys where accountability is optional and you just swipe, swipe, swipe and slide to the next option? The song is an acknowledgement of that very transient modern dating behavior after what I went through, and the perfect person to help throw a little bit of shade to that is everybody’s favorite grandpa, Willie Nelson. He might even be a great-great-grandpa, but he’s also a gangster.”
I knew anything with Kacey and Willie would be good, and the song certainly did not disappoint. Kacey admits that she’s been played, thinking she was in love and in hindsight, she realizes maybe that wasn’t the case:
“Here in Uncertain, Texas
I just don’t know anymore
You think you really know somebody
They may up and walk right out the door
Did you ever love me, baby?
I thought you different time to time
Here in Uncertain, Texas
Nobody ever makes up their mind”
She continues, saying that it’s pretty unbelievable such a tiny town could have “such a large amount of cowboys that just can’t get off the fence”:
“It’s weird that such a tiny town
Would have such a large amount
Of cowboys that just can’t get off the fence
But if you don’t know you’ve got it all
And your character isn’t made strong
You’re gonna blow away with the wind”
Go ahead and preach, Kacey…
The last verse, though is the winner, and I love hearing them sing this part so much:
“Did you ever love me, baby?
I thought you did from time to time
Here in Uncertain, Texas
Nobody ever makes up their mind
Down here in Uncertain, Texas
Nobody ever makes up their dusty, old love bomb
And snake-charming, bull***
Heart-breaking, God-forsaking dumb*** mind”
AMEN to that, queen.
Middle Of Nowhere is unique in many ways, it does blend a lot of different sounds and I’m into it, but lyrically, it feels like a return of sorts to the kind of clever, witty and more country side of Kacey, and the songwriting is just top notch and shows why she is a cut above so many of her modern-day peers when it comes to her abilities with a pen.
No one does it like Kacey, it’s why she’s one of my all-time favorite artists, and her and Willie putting all the f***boys on notice here is just perfection. Check it out:
“Uncertain, TX”
And if you’re unfamiliar with Kacey and Willie’s previous duet “Are You Sure,” you’re missing out… Kacey sang it with Willie for her iconic 2015 Pageant Material album, but it was originally written by Willie and Buddy Emmons and first released by Ray Price in 1963.
“Are You Sure”
“Horses and Divorces”
Middle of Nowhere Tracklist:
1.Middle of Nowhere
2.Dry Spell
3.Back on the Wagon
4.I Believe in Ghosts
5.Abilene
6.Coyote feat. Gregory Alan Isakov
7.Loneliest Girl
8.Everybody Wants To Be a Cowboy feat. Billy Strings
9.Horses and Divorces feat. Miranda Lambert
10.Uncertain, Texas feat. Willie Nelson
11.Rhinestoned
12.Mexico Honey
13.Hell on Me
“Uncertain, TX”
