Gig of the week

Kacey Musgraves, York Barbican, October 24

TEXAN country star Kacey Musgraves backs up the March 30 arrival of her fourth album, Golden Hour, with an autumn tour that features York Barbican as her only Yorkshire show.

Musgraves announced her Oh, What A World Tour when headlining the C2C: Country To Country Festival at the London O2 Arena in March, broadcast live by BBC Radio 2.

She co-wrote and co-produced Golden Hour with Ian Fitchuk, a writer for ABC's Nashville series, and Daniel Tashian, frontman of The Silver Seas. "I had a different mindset this time, which was feeling rather than thinking, leading heart first," says Kacey, describing the creative process behind her most intimate album to date on the MCA Nashville/Decca label.

"I tapped different songwriters, different producers, different studios, everything changed with this album," she told Country Music magazine. "And that's what I needed; I didn't want to follow my own formula just because it has, quote/unquote, 'worked before'. I thought, 'what would it sound like if Imogen Heap made a country album?'."

Against the grain of her past work, Kacey crafted songs from an optimistic perspective. "Previously I've always written best from a sad or a negative place, but I found it to be totally the opposite with this album," she revealed to Country Music. "I was a little nervous going into it, thinking, 'I'm actually happy! How am I going to make this work creatively?'.But it wasn't a problem; it actually inspired me.

"I've never written love songs; that's never been inspiring to me, ever. But maybe that's because I wasn't in inspiring relationships," reflected 30-year-old Kacey, who has married since 2015's Pageant Material album.

Tickets for next Wednesday night have sold out; for returns only, ring 0844 854 2757. Doors open at 7pm.