Review: Kacey Musgraves, Oh, What A World Tour, York Barbican, October 24

KACEY Musgraves hails from Golden, East Texas, her latest album is called Golden Hour and right now she is the golden gal of new country.

As it happens, Kacey wears, not gold, but silver pants, silver on the heels of her white boots, silver above her eyes, for her York Barbican debut, with huge dazzling drop ear rings to complete the classic country look.

Turning 30 in August, Kacey has grasped the mantle of Dolly, Tammy, Loretta, Reba, Emmylou and Mary Chapin. She is playing to an audience of all ages, such is her broad appeal, to country and pop fans alike, heralded by her breakthrough hit, Merry Go Round, played with all due care and attention by Musgraves, typical of her polished yet ever so personable show.

She has the star quality, the real purty looks; she has the personality, the patter; she knows how to make an entry, at the top of a stairway; she knows how to laugh at herself, at the thought of tripping down those steps.

She has a fabulous multi-instrumental band, togged out in rusty brown suits as if for the Grand Ole Opry, to play banjo, double bass, cello, pedal steel, percussion, keyboards, guitars divinely.

Oh, and she has the songs, including all 13 from Golden Hour, to go with such earlier highs as High Time, Keep It To Yourself and the set-closing singalong Follow Your Arrow.

By then, switching to a close-up set-up and old-school country, she had brought the house to its feet with Oh, What A World and a Christmas-hit-in-waiting cover of Keane's Somewhere Only We Know. One note of caution: the encore cover of NSYNC's Tearin' Up My Heart, with support act Soccer Mommy, and High Horse finale pointed towards a pop future. Leave that to Taylor Swift.

Charles Hutchinson