Eight time Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter, Kacey Musgraves announces her new album, Middle of Nowhere, arriving May 1st, 2026 (Lost Highway). Alongside the announcement, Musgraves released the album’s first single, “Dry Spell”. Boldly hilarious and self-aware, the track blazes with sharp wit while delivering tight turns of phrase.
Middle of Nowhere is Musgraves’ sixth studio album, produced by Kacey alongside longtime collaborators Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk, exhales with a dust-blown clarity that feels both evocative and sure. The album draws from the sounds, stories, and sensibilities that shaped the Texas native. A literal sign in Musgraves’ tiny, unincorporated, no-stoplight hometown of Golden, Texas, population under 300, that reads “Golden, TX: Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere” sparked the idea for the title track and symbolic throughline of the album, speaking to something deeper and more nuanced.
Written during a period of reflection and post-breakup clarity, this collection of songs finds Musgraves leaning intentionally into open space and traditional western elements. Pedal steel, accordion, and Texas dancehall rhythms provide a nostalgic framework that she flips on its head in signature fashion. It is a sonic love letter to the musical borders of Country, echoing influence from adjacent genres such as bluegrass, pop, and even bits of Norteño and Zydeco.
Middle of Nowhere features collaborations with Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert, Billy Strings, and Gregory Alan Isakov, further highlighting its deep Texas roots and genreless spirit.
“The bulk of this record was made during the longest single period of my life”, says Musgraves, and I found that for the first time, it actually felt incredible being alone and existing in a space not defined by anyone else. I became fascinated with the concept of liminal space, both geographical and emotional. We don’t linger in these transitional, empty spaces long enough and rush to define where or whatever is next. I became so at ease with being in the “middle of nowhere” in many senses and sitting in the un-comfort of the undefined. I had a lot of time for creative ambling and leaning into myself in different ways; horses, humor, writing with my early collaborators again, and living out my very simple, inspired life between Texas, Tennessee, and Mexico.”
Middle of Nowhere feels both fresh, familiar, and classically Kacey. Honest, fearless, immersive, and always ready to wink at life’s twists, turns, and even troubles.
Middle of Nowhere follows 2024’s Deeper Well, which marked Musgraves’ biggest debut sales week, landing at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart and her fifth No. 1 debut on the Top Country Albums chart. She launched the Deeper Well World Tour with sold-out shows globally, and the album’s single “The Architect” won Best Country Song at the Grammys.
In 2023, Musgraves achieved her first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 with “I Remember Everything,” her duet with Zach Bryan. The song became the first country duet in 40 years since “Islands in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers to top the chart and went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Country Duo or Group Performance.
Over the course of her career, Musgraves has earned eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for Golden Hour. She has been recognized by Time as one of its “Women of the Year”, honored with the Vanguard Award at the GLAAD Media Awards, celebrated by Billboard’s “Women in Music” and Variety’s “Power of Women”, the recipient of the Songwriter Icon Award by the National Music Publishers’ Association, and was the subject of a comprehensive Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit, Kacey Musgraves: All of the Colors.
Middle of Nowhere Track List
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
