Kacey Musgraves Celebrates Lost Highway Deal With Hank Williams Cover

Kacey Musgraves is returning to the newly reactivated Nashville label Lost Highway, to which she signed in 2011 shortly before the imprint was absorbed by Mercury Records, which ultimately released her 2013 debut, Same Trailer Different Park.

In celebration, the artist has covered the Hank Williams-popularized “Lost Highway” with production assistance from longtime collaborators Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk. Here the version below.

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“Lost Highway was always a musical stable for artists who might be considered outliers or outlaws; those who live on the fringe,” Musgraves says. “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 and I’m deeply honored to be able to once again call Lost Highway my musical home.” 

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Musgraves added that “there’s talk about other creative ventures within this as well, like merch capsules and me helping to shape things outside of my own projects. We’re still looking at what that exactly means, but it’s a true passion project for me. In this world where there are so many varying degrees of genre, to have a home for artists who are left of center is necessary.”

Meanwhile, Musgraves has “written a ton of songs already” for the follow-up to 2024’s Grammy-winning Deeper Well. “I love being in a period of time where I’m not rushed by a deadline and have the space to mosey and poke around. I’m not sure yet where it’s going to end up. There was Same Trailer, then Pageant Material went even harder in the country direction — it was a love letter to all the classic country I love. Naturally, it felt good for me to explore some other sounds, and I went into Golden Hour territory. Then I went through a divorce and was in a really intense place in my life, and I went in the opposite direction with Star Crossed. With Deeper Well, I swung back in toward my center.  I’ve been feeling really good playing around with some more — I want to say ‘traditional’ — but at the same time, there always has to be a modern edge there in some way. There has to be a balance between tradition and future.”

Musgraves is also planning tours of South America, Asia and Australia later this year, noting, “it’s been really cool to see the rest of the world come to love country music, because, really, country is more about a mentality and an attitude versus geography. Real country music is based on real emotions all humans have, no matter where you’re from.”

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