Same Trailer Different Park

Personnel: Kacey Musgraves (vocals, acoustic guitar, whistle, harmonica); Luke Laird (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, background vocals); Misa Arriaga (vocals, acoustic guitar, ukulele, background vocals); Kyle Ryan (vocals, electric guitar); Shane McAnally (vocals, background vocals); Ilya Toshinskiy (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, resonator guitar, banjo); Josh Osborne (acoustic guitar, background vocals); Rob McNelly, J.T. Corenflos , David Levita (electric guitar); Russ Pahl, Bucky Baxter (pedal steel guitar); Hannah Schroeder, Claire Indie (cello); John Henry Trinko (accordion); Matt Stanfield (Wurlitzer organ, keyboards); Fred Eltringham (drums); Kree Harrison, Natalie Hemby (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Ryan Gore.
Recording information: Ben's Studio, Nashville, TN; Maverick Recording, Nashville, TN; Sound Emporium; The Racket.
Illustrators: Karen Naff; Steve Richards .
Photographer: Kelly Christine Musgraves.
Kacey Musgraves could easily be contemporary country's next big thing. She's a sharp, detailed songwriter with a little bit of an edge, and while it's tempting to think of her as another coming of Taylor Swift, say, she's got the kind of relaxed sureness about what she's doing as a songwriter and performer that puts her closer to a Miranda Lambert. On her first nationally distributed album, Same Trailer Different Park, she definitely sounds more on the Lambert side of things, with a sparse, airy sound that lets her lyrics shine, and she'd as soon use a banjo in her arrangements as a snarling Stratocaster. From her debut single, the marvelous "Merry Go 'Round" (which is included here as the third track), Musgraves showed an intelligent, careful writing style that is as pointed as it is poignant, and even though the song seems to skewer small-town country life, it does it without malice or agenda, and is really more just telling it true than anything else, a trait that ought to be treasured in Nashville but usually isn't. Nashville wants one to tell it true as long as that telling conforms to the template, which Musgraves isn't likely to do. "Merry Go 'Round" might be the best song here, but there are others that are nearly as good, like the lilting, wise opener, "Silver Lining," the implausible "Dandelion" (one wonders how she manages to make such a winning song out of such a metaphor, but she does), and the gutsy (and again, wise) "Follow Your Arrow," all of which feature clear-eyed observations, unintrusive but appropriate arrangements, and a certain flair for telling it like it is and making it sound like bedrock, obvious wisdom. Musgraves has a sense of humor, too, and all of these traits add up to make Same Trailer Different Park more than a collection of songs just aiming for the country charts. ~ Steve Leggett