Kacey Musgraves Reveals ‘Golden Hour’ Inspired by New Husband and Psychedelics

Kacey Musgraves’ husband, Ruston Kelly, deserves at least some of the credit for the inspiration behind her upcoming Golden Hour album. The 29-year-old reveals she was in a dark place when she met Kelly, who managed to spark the creative fire in her.

“I was in this lonely, not-creative place and just felt like sh– about myself,” Musgraves admits to Billboard, recalling the night she went to the famed Bluebird Cafe and met the man who is now her spouse. “I had just cleared my schedule to get back to writing when I went to that show and I met him. Songs just immediately started pouring out.”

Her feelings for Kelly evolved into what became Golden Hour, giving Musgraves permission to deviate from songs like “Merry Go Round” and “Biscuits” and, in many ways, switch gears for her third record.

“It was a nice escape to fixate on this person that has completely changed my world, rather than try to be a social commentator,” explains Musgraves. “I’ve been that a lot before, so it might surprise people that I’m not now. But everyone has a soapbox these days! Everyone’s tired of it.”

The Texas native isn’t shy about much in her life, including her use of psychedelics – a type of hallucinogenic drug, which she says made a “giant impression” on her. But although Musgraves insists it “made her music better,” she isn’t willing to go so far as to publicly speak out for legalized drug use.

“I don’t need to be a lobbyist for anything – and what works for me may totally not work for someone else,” Musgraves maintains. “It makes me happy to see that people are getting help and healing from marijuana. If there weren’t so much propaganda against it for no reason, [marijuana] would probably save a lot of lives. I’m a firm believer that what you do with your body is your own choice, and legally that covers a lot of ground.”

Golden Hour is definitely a departure from Musgraves’ 2013 Same Trailer Different Park and the 2015 Pageant Material, mostly because Musgraves is different now than she was then.

“It’s easy to look at something you’ve done previously and go, ‘I don’t want to fix what ain’t broke,’” Musgraves concedes. “But that can be dangerous. You can get into a rut where you start to think, ‘I have to work with the exact same team I’ve always used.’ But it’s not saying you’ll never work with them again if you change it up. You can come back. And there are so many talented people in Nashville, right at my fingertips.”

Golden Hour will be released on March 30. It is currently available for pre-order on Amazon and iTunes.

Photo Credit: Instagram/SpaceyKacey