KACEY MUSGRAVES

Songwriter and country singer Kacey Musgraves was born in Golden, Texas, the same East Texas region where Miranda Lambert, the artist Musgraves most resembles, got her start. Musgraves made her stage debut at eight years old and was writing her own songs by the time she was nine, learning to play several instruments, including guitar, harmonica, and mandolin. She self-released three albums before catching a break when she appeared as a contestant on the 2007 season of the American Idol-styled television show Nashville Star. She came in seventh in the competition, but the exposure allowed her to make some inroads on the Nashville music scene, and she began placing songs with major country artists like Martina McBride and Lambert, and Musgraves and Lambert became a co-songwriting team as well. She signed a recording deal with Mercury Records in 2012, which issued a first single, the wise, taut, and very impressive "Merry Go 'Round," later that same year. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi