“All My Exes Live In Texas” (Kacey’s Version) is here.
This week, Kacey Musgraves released her sixth studio album Middle of Nowhere, which Musgraves produced alongside longtime collaborators Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk. It of course featured 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.
And she’s already releasing bonus tracks, including her rendition of George Strait’s “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” today. She’s played it a couple of times during recent live performances, but it’s now been uploaded to iTunes and I can’t get enough. The song is of course one of his signature songs and a country classic written by Sanger D. Shafer and Lyndia J. Shafer. It was released in April of 1987 as the second single from Strait’s seventh studio album, Ocean Front Property, following the album’s title track.
It would go onto become Strait’s 11th number one hit single, and he received his first Grammy Award nomination for “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” for Best Male Country Vocal Performance at the 1988 Grammy Awards. Note that George’s version is spelled “ex’s,” whereas Kacey’s version is “exes,” which is technically the correct way to spell that.
I think it’s one a lot of non-country music fans think of when they hear the name George Strait, and for good reason, because he might not have a catchier song in his vast and iconic catalog honestly. Kacey is a Texas girl through and through, and I’ve never heard someone cover The King’s song quite like this, and Kacey’s probably the only one who could pull it off.
She starts naming off guys she knew from different towns in Texas, saying one she knew drank “too much Patrón,” and one guy named Cody is now “doing time”:
“Okay, listen
Stephen down in Stephenville
Drank too much patron
Richard down in Richardson
Won’t pick up the phone
Cody in Midlothian
Now, he’s doing time
Sometimes you’ve gotta learn to love it
Or leave it all behind”
In the next verse, she recalls a Houston guy with “the bluest eyes,” though she seems to have forgotten his name, and an ***hole she knew in El Paso broke her heart, and that verse finishes with her signature witty humor:
“I left my shirt in Forth Worth
With some old college fling
That Houston guy had the bluest eyes
But I forgot his name
Some ***hole down in El Paso
Left my heart all broke
Everything’s bigger down there
So I’m sad that I can’t go”
She closed it out by saying that no one in Texas will marry her, even though that’s where she’ll be buried, but for now, she’s “alive and well in Tennessee”:
“Well, no one there will marry me
Some day that’s where they’ll bury me
But I’m alive and well in Tennessee”
It’s funny, creative, and I never knew I needed a female perspective of this song until now… I’m actually surprised no one has tried something like this before, but I’m certain no one could do it like Kacey. Right now, the song is only available on Apple Music, but I’m sure it will eventually make its way to all streaming platforms.
Check it out:
She also put out another bonus track called “Caballero”:
Kacey will hit the road on her Middle Of Nowhere tour this fall.
Middle of Nowhere Tour Dates:
May 3, 2026 Gruene Hall – New Braunfels, TX
May 4, 2026 Gruene Hall – New Braunfels, TX
May 5, 2026 Gruene Hall – New Braunfels, TX
Aug 21, 2026 United Center – Chicago, IL
Aug 24, 2026 Scotiabank Arena – Toronto, ON
Aug 28, 2026 TD Garden – Boston, MA
Aug 31, 2026 Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
Sep 1, 2026 Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
Sep 4, 2026 Xfinity Mobile Arena – Philadelphia, PA
Sep 5, 2026 CFG Bank Arena – Baltimore, MD
Sep 8, 2026 PPG Paints Arena – Pittsburgh, PA
Sep 9, 2026 Schottenstein Center – Columbus, OH
Sep 11, 2026 Fiserv Forum – Milwaukee, WI
Sep 12, 2026 Enterprise Center – St. Louis, MO
Sep 22, 2026 Target Center – Minneapolis, MN
Sep 23, 2026 T-Mobile Center – Kansas City, MO
Sep 25, 2026 Bourbon & Beyond – Louisville, KY
Sep 27, 2026 Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN
Sep 28, 2026 Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN
Sep 30, 2026 State Farm Arena -Atlanta, GA
Oct 2, 2026 Spectrum Center – Charlotte, NC
Oct 5, 2026 Toyota Center – Houston, TX
Oct 7, 2026 Moody Center – Austin, TX
Oct 10, 2026 American Airlines Center – Dallas, TX
Oct 13, 2026 Ball Arena – Denver, CO
Oct 15, 2026 Delta Center – Salt Lake City, UT
Oct 17, 2026 Mortgage Matchup Center – Phoenix, AZ
Oct 18, 2026 Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
Oct 19, 2026 Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
Oct 23, 2026 Oakland Arena – Oakland, CA
Oct 26, 2026 Climate Pledge – Arena Seattle, WA
Oct 27, 2026 Climate Pledge – Arena Seattle, WA
“Horses and Divorces”
“Uncertain, TX”
