New Music 2015 - Part 46 - Kacey Musgraves - Pageant Material

'Pageant Material', which is Kacey Musgraves' second studio album, is to be released on 22 June in the UK by Decca. I read the article about it in the Sunday Times today.

If the falseness of the album artwork annoys you - it is just a cliché - then please read on...

Factually, the article was fine in as far as it went (not very far) but that isn't the problem I have with it. The issue is that the author wasn't even willing to applaud the bravery that major label Mercury, and therefore not something that I might naturally feel inclined to defend, had in releasing 'Same Trailer Different Park' in 2013.
The article acknowledged that it tackled issues that would bother the moral majority: It did that and then some. 'Pageant Material' is no less incendiary in that respect but neither was Loretta Lynn when tackling issues of domestic abuse some decades ago. 

'Biscuits' is the first track released from it.

The other thing that struck me is that the impression given in the article is that Kacey Musgraves is alone in this mission. It is a fact that she isn't. Here are just two others to consider that I was well aware of in 2014:

• Razor Wire - Hannah Aldridge (2014)
• American Middle Class - Angaleena Presley (2014)

Whilst not actually courting such controversy with her début solo LP 'Like A Rose', Ashley Monroe was not afraid to tackle a taboo subject on the track 'Two Weeks Late' or a rather different one on 'Weed Instead Of Roses'. Her second LP should be revealed within a few months.
There are plenty of others too. Not least the ones that I am currently unaware of.