Kacey Musgraves: Pageant Material | Album review

“I talk about things that have made an impression on me that a lot of people everywhere are going through.”

Kacey Musgraves was speaking about her "controversial" lyrics on the Texan's 2013 breakout album, Same Trailer Different Park, but really she was setting out her stall as an independent young woman in a genre dominated by the mostly risible "Bro' Country".

Musgraves is not alone; others such as Miranda Lambert and Angeleena Presley are also trying to deliver an authentic modern female voice.

But Musgraves’ sharp, sassy, sarky insight, tempered by a fatalistic romantic streak, marks her out.

Same Trailer had buckets of attitude which Pageant Material inherits, but the new album is more measured, reserved and conscious of its Nashville roots while continuing to rock the lyrical boat.