Born in Golden, Texas, Musgraves first garnered attention when she appeared on Season 5 of USA Network's singing competition, Nashville Star, in 2007. She came in seventh place.
Though she had released three independent albums, the country singer released her first major label album, Same Trailer Different Park, through Mercury Records in 2013.
At the 2014 Grammy Awards, she took home the prizes for Best Country Song ("
Merry Go 'Round") and Best Country Album. Her mom was her date for the evening.
Musgraves suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction before her duet with Loretta Lynn at the 2014 CMA Awards. Wearing a sequined mini-dress with sheer side panels, the singer's special stick-on underwear became unstuck just before she took the stage to sing "You're Looking at Country" with the legend. "In case you see them somewhere around here, they're mine," she told the crowd when she snagged the Song of the Year award for "
Follow Your Arrow."
The hit "Follow Your Arrow" raised a few eyebrows in Nashville and probably furrowed a lot more in the conservative community. The lyrics encourage listeners to do what they want in life because "you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't" no matter what you choose, whether it's rolling up a joint or embracing a same-sex relationship. When asked about the controversial lyrics, she said: "I mean it's 2013, and regardless of your political beliefs I think everybody should be able to love who they want to love and live how they want to live."
Musgraves rescued a three-legged Jack Russell mix she named Pearl.
She began dating her bandmate Misa Arriaga, who plays acoustic guitar and ukulele, in 2014.
Speaking to Cosmopolitan, Musgraves said that her writing inspirations come from real-life experiences. "A lot of times, I'll be having an argument or a conversation with someone, and I'm like, 'Oh, that's a lyric!' Then I think, 'Focus back on the conversation,'" she said. "Or it's stuff my parents, sister, or friends have gone through. I could see a sign and think, 'Oh, that's an interesting perspective.'"
Many of Kacey Musgraves' songs talk about self-acceptance. They come from some of the pals that she grew up who are not able to be themselves. "After high school, my best friend came out to me, and he was like, 'I don't feel like I can be myself, and you're the first person I'm telling,'" the singer said. "That is still a lot of people's reality. So if a kid feels like they can walk a little taller because of something I sang, I'm inspired by that."
Kacey Musgraves wrote her first song, "Notice Me," at the age of nine.
Kacey Musgraves married fellow musician Ruston Kelly on October 14, 2017 in Tennessee. She first met her husband when they were paired up to write for the musical drama TV show Nashville.
The couple announced they are filing for divorce in July 2020. They had no children. The divorce was finalized three months later.
As a child Musgraves was a champion yodeller and was selected to sing the national anthem at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Her 2026 album Middle of Nowhere takes its title from a sign in Kacey's hometown of Golden, Texas, that reads: "Somewhere in the middle of nowhere."
Kacey Musgraves' production approach involves loading up a track with multiple elements and then stripping them back. Her collaborators nicknamed her "the axeman" because she consistently cuts layers until she finds what she calls the right "architecture"; the balance of sound and negative space. "I work really well by eliminating things," she told CBS Mornings.
