Kacey Musgraves Explains How Husband Ruston Kelly Affected Her Music

Kacey Musgraves‘ latest album, Golden Hour, is notable for many reasons, one of them being that it contains several love songs, something Musgraves’ fans know the singer hasn’t had too many of in the past. The reason for that? Her husband, Ruston Kelly.

Speaking to Hits Daily Double, Musgraves shared that after meeting Kelly, “everything changed.”

The two tied the knot in October 2017 after meeting during a writers’ round at Nashville’s Bluebird Café, which Musgraves admitted she rarely attends.

“I had a friend who was playing it, and I thought, “Well…” I didn’t go with anyone, and I was sitting by myself at a table,” the “High Horse” singer recalled. “Ruston played his first song, and I was just stunned by everything in it —the words, the melody, what he was saying. I was just sitting at this table, crying. When it was over, I went up and introduced myself. I said, ‘Hey, I don’t really ever do this, but here’s my number; I really wanna write with you.’”

A few months later, the two had an appointment to write, which Musgraves almost canceled.

“I just didn’t wanna go through trying to write with someone I didn’t really know,” the 29-year-old explained, though when Kelly arrived, things quickly changed.

“The second Ruston walked into my house, I felt like Dorothy when the colorized part happens in The Wizard of Oz,” she shared. “We didn’t even write a song. We just talked, and talked, and talked. He didn’t leave until like 3 am. It was the easiest, most natural thing in the world — and I didn’t want it to stop.”

The singer acknowledged that her previous material has often featured social commentary and other stories, but her relationship with Kelly has given her the confidence to let her listeners hear more of herself.

“I met Ruston at the start of this album, and everything changed,” Musgraves recalled. “People were saying, ‘You even look like a different person. You’re beaming.’”

“When you’re with someone you truly love to the core and they feel that way about you, there’s no sense of panic — or that it’s going to come apart,” she continued. “I’m living in a much more positive light now. It’s maybe opened my heart a little. If your personal life isn’t crumbling, you can tackle anything with joy and light. I never felt like this. I was always fearful of putting myself too much out there. And I realized maybe I’ve been a little over-[self]protected. Maybe I can let loose a little more, trust more in the songs, what I have at home and out here.”

Songs like “Butterflies” and “Velvet Elvis” see Musgraves share opinions that she never has before, namely that it’s nice to be in love — and she loves it.

“I love love,” she said. “So much I’ve never expressed it inwardly in the songs. Now that I’m with someone who loves me no matter what my flaws are, it’s a whole other thing. And you see it even more clearly. Good God, people suck. But then my heart wrenches for people in every situation: How did they get like that? And maybe in the craziness of the societal and political landscape, being a voice for love is radical.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Jeff Kravitz/ACMA2017