100 Greatest Songs of the 2010’s #43 Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour

Released: 2018

On it’s release some of Nashville’s country music establishment were less than enthusiatic about Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves third album. Going against their conservative principles the singer made no secret of using LSD to reach a broader state of consciousness during the writing process, experimentation which, in tandem with falling in love and getting married, made for a record whose defining qualities were it’s warmth and humanity.

Amongst the excursions into disco, feather light rock and astutely constructed pop, the album’s title track remains a lush, almost introverted oddity; a straight ahead love song  which places the singer’s honeyed voice at it’s centre and it’s rare to be so close to someone else’s deepest emotions but feel as comfortable. As for her critics, Golden Hour’s 300 million streams and counting have meant no need for a comeback.