Kacey Musgraves introduced herself to Tucson Wednesday night, but judging from the reaction of the crowd that nearly filled Rialto Theatre, no introduction was necessary.
The audience knew nearly every word to every song she sang, from the covers of TLC’s “No Scrubs” and Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart” — which Musgraves wrote — to the deep cuts off her Grammy-winning debut album “Same Trailer, Different Park.”
Her concert will easily go down as one of the best if not the best Tucson country concert of the year, and here’s why:
• The songs: Musgraves is one of the most talented songwriters in Nashville. She writes about small towns where life is a merry go round that can suck you up and spit you out without you ever realizing it. And she does it with tongue firmly in cheek:
People are also reading…
“If you save yourself for marriage / You're a bore / If you don't save yourself for marriage / You're a whore-able person.”
“Maybe I love you, Maybe I'm just kind of bored / It is what it is 'Til it ain't anymore.”
“Stupid love is stupid / Don't know why we always do it / Finally find it just to lose it / Always wind up looking stupid.”
She pulled nearly every song off “Same Trailer” and tossed in the first single , “Biscuits,” off her forthcoming sophomore album. She could probably have dug a little deeper into that album, which she released to media last week. (I listened to my copy several times and I can tell you it’s going to be well worth the wait.) The Rialto audience was so far smitten that they would have indulged her singing “Mary Had A Little Lamb.”
One of the evening’s highlights came at the end when Musgraves sang her award-winning anthem “Follow Your Arrow.” At one point, the singer kind of laid back and let the audience take over.
• The voice: Musgraves reminded me of a young Lee Ann Womack: pleasantly nasal at times, with a hint of twang. That's a good thing: It's the kind of voice that pulls you in and tightens its grip with every word. You hang on because you don’t want to miss the slightest nuance. It’s a voice that can make you alternately feel like you’re 6 again, snuggled safely up with your mother on a rainy day; and 23, striking out fiercely on your own determined to go it alone.
• The setting: Musgraves decorated the Rialto Theatre stage with a half-dozen or so neon cacti that contrasted with the bright lights on the suit coats of her band members. Every one was wearing Western-style outfits, from the six musicians in Western suits to Musgraves Western-style mini-skirt. When she came on for her encore, she wore twinkling light boots for a cover of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots are Made for Walkin’.”
• The opening act: Musgraves invited Nashville newcomers Humming House to join the latest leg of her "Same Trailer, Different Tour" tour. The band just released its second indie album and while they get some play on satellite radio, they were virtually unknown to the Rialto audience. But that didn’t stop them or the audience from connecting in a way that made you think you had seen or heard them before — or wanted to hear more of them. Once the band sang a chorus of a song, the audience attempted — pretty admirably — to sing along. And after every song, the crowd applauded the quintet with the kind of intensity usually reserved for the headliner.
