Episode 6: Exploring Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves

In this episode of Home Records, Slice and Emily dive into Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves. They explore the record’s dreamy blend of country, pop, and disco influences, unpacking how it marked a bold creative shift for country music and captured a season of love, clarity, and personal growth.

From shimmering standout moments and unexpected production choices to candid reflections and behind-the-scenes stories, they share what makes Golden Hour feel both timeless and transportive. Along the way, they talk about how the album reshaped the modern country landscape—and where it fits in their own lives and record collection.

Whether you’re a longtime fan of Kacey Musgraves or hearing Golden Hour for the first time, join them for a conversation that’s part music history, part personal reflection—and you might just find your next favorite record along the way.

Follow Home Records and subscribe wherever you listen.
Find us at @emilymyersmusic and @theslicemusic.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Hi, I'm Slice.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

And I'm Emily.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

And welcome to another episode of Home Records, the podcast where we, two married musicians, pick an album at random from our 2000 piece final collection and discuss its personal and cultural importance. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 0:32

I'm so good. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:34

I am doing very, very well. I woke up, I had coffee, I had a protein shake, I listened to Japanese folk rock music. Uh life is good on a Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

As is your new uh hobby, Japanese folk music. You're on quite a kick.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Well, a lot of Japanese music, Japanese rock, Japanese city pop, Japanese jazz fusion, uh, which uh is part of the course from our last episodes.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Yeah. Yeah, we've we we highlighted a few of those, but today we're going a different route. We're not doing anything Japanese. Although this artist does get a lot of influence from Japanese music.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Yes, yes, this artist very much uh loves loves a lot of things Japanese. Um I remember when sometime I think she was probably on tour, she would just post on her Instagram just vacation um reels and photos of her being in Japan. You know, quite a bit. And of course, the artist we are referring to is uh country starlet Casey Musgraves.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yeah, I love her. I'm actually so pumped for this episode. I've been waiting for this episode. I've been excited for this episode because we're covering one of my favorite records of all time.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Yes, and it's in fact uh one of my favorite albums as well. It's it's in my I think it's my second favorite album of the 2010s.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Yeah, and not even like in country. No, overall.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Overall, overall, yeah, yeah. It's one of my favorite albums of the 2010s. Uh the one that is the my favorite album, we'll probably I think we're gonna get to in another episode, Hint Hint, Nudge, Nudge. Uh place your bets now. But um, yeah, so unlike some of the other records we talked about, or most of the other records we talked about, um, this one is something one that you are also extremely familiar with. I know.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

I know. I always say before we got out here, I was like, I didn't actually have to like listen and take a ton of notes before it's funny because I've listened to this record so much in my life already, which is fun for me.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

I do actually own I do own this album on vinyl, but it's it's not currently in our house. I actually have it at my work office where I teach, uh, because I usually put uh put some vinyls there in my shelf. And they're like probably the albums that I feel like are the most classic, you know, that I could be like, oh, check these out, guys. You know, because these are these are the sauce, you know.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

The ones to live up to.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Pretty much. Um so yeah, Golden Hour by Casey Musgraves. That is the album we are talking about, came out in I believe 2018.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

And which is a while ago now, like it's it's almost eight years ago.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Eight years ago.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

But yeah, to me, if that came out tomorrow, it would still feel super fresh.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Absolutely. And I think it was we're gonna get into this. We're you know, talking about, you know, creatively, this was very much a peak for Casey Musgraves, and this was very much a departure from what she's done previously as well. And thematically, there's a lot of things in this record that were different than she did before, and some that she retained afterwards in some ways, um musically, in other ways, different. So we're gonna get into all of that.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Yeah, so for someone who maybe hasn't listened to this record, let's talk about why this record was kind of a shift for Casey. First off, just where she was at in her life. This is her love record. Um, she wrote this when uh it was like she was just getting married, or she had just gotten married to Rustin Kelly at the time.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

She had well, she had started writing it when she met Rustin. Yeah. Uh, which they uh funnily enough met at Douglas' corner, which unfortunately no longer exists. It was a pivotal and cornerstone of uh live, local live music.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

I didn't know they met at Douglas Corner. Can I tell my crazy Douglas Corner story?

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Um, yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Okay, so Douglas Corner, as Slice says, used to be a very iconic like writer's rounds and songwriter joint in Nashville. And when I visited Nashville for the very first time, that was what I was trying to do. I was trying to go to a place that was super iconic. I was actually here on a mission trip, not even here for a writer sing. Like I was in high school, and the church team I was on said, Emily, you're in charge of like our day out. What do you want to go do? And so I like researched iconic songwriting venues to go to, and I picked Douglas's corner because of its reputation. I have never had a weirder experience in my life. I went to this round, and this guy who was like, he looked like Gandalf. Yeah, I'm not kidding you. He looked like Gandalf. He had the staff and he proceeded every time his round hit him, he proceeded to do a spoken word poetry about like fantasy. Yeah. I was like, what is this?

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Yeah, the open mic rounds at Douglas' Corner can get very chaotic and very unhinged almost very quickly. And I remember because when you go there, they you sign up, you had to get there dirt early, uh, more or less, like an hour early, you sign up, and you basically get picked to go up in a lottery system. But the thing is they go through everybody who signed up. So rounds could be going until one or two in the morning, you know, on a on a good night. And that's in quotation marks. But um, but uh but yeah, yeah, exactly. So you so you and you sign up, and everybody does two songs, I think. Everybody's not just not just one song, they just they do two songs, so you never know who you're gonna be in the round with, you never know um what kind of you know I remember I think when I did it, not in the round I was in, but the one of the guys that was in this round, I saw him one other time somewhere else, is I guess he claimed to be like like a relative a twice removed relative of George Harrison, and so he did this like sort of parody of Here Comes the Sun. I can't remember what it was, but I remember that, you know. And but that was the thing in Nashville, that was the thing you did. I mean, like Casey probably had done that at least a handful of times when she when she uh came out here. She's originally from Texas and she did the Nashville thing, you know, when she was in her teens.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

And it's so funny to me. So Douglas Corner is an icon, it was an iconic song.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

No longer exists, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

But by the time I moved to Nashville, it was already gone. So my one experience is Gandalf. And that's and it just cracks me up.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

But it's it's it's absolutely a Nashville experience, it's absolutely, you know, par for the course, you know, for that. But uh, anyways.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Anyway, I got a sidetracked once more. No, that's all right. I thought that was an important memento to share.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

It very much is, it very much is. Absolutely. So yeah, no, Casey met Rustin there of all places, and yeah, Rustin had had kind of started just kind of dip started dipping his toes in the solo record. He he was just about to write his own um, you know, breakthrough record as well. But yeah, when they met and they started having their romance, that's when Casey started writing this record, Golden Hour.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Yeah. And and it's very different. I mean, she doesn't. I will say this about a lot of female country singers and writers in general, is that they don't really write about love. And so I love that this this whole record is about budding romance. Obviously, that romance didn't last, they're now divorced. And we love Rustin Kelly, we'll say that. We love them both.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

Yes, they are both fantastic artists, they put out some uh some great work in Star Crossed, anyways.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Um But this record, it just captures that I really think those first few moments of really falling in love. Um also just it captures her history kind of growing up. I feel like there's a lot of growing up songs on this record, too.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

It very much there's very much a nostalgia factor to this record, um, which which tends to happen when you're talking about um romance and falling in love in the moment, you know, which is very much like that's very much a nostalgic rite of passage um feeling or experience that everybody has, both requited and unrequited, you know. In this case, it's it's actually a requited love record, which which I feel like are pretty underrated. I think I think they don't get enough credit, you know. It's very easy to talk, it's very easy to talk about how like we you know we're we're so in love, we're so in the moment, and then there's the inevitable heartbreak because they don't feel the same way. So it's and you hear about that all the time, but then you know, there's not enough, I think, albums that really deeply, and I think in my opinion, with deaf really talk about, you know, the positive feelings and experiences that all relates to.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Well, I feel like you almost have like you know, albums and music comes from emotion, and you have so much more emotion when you're going through a breakup or unrequited love or something that's really intense. Like, I feel like you have so much more to say, and so a lot of times I do feel like those albums are better. But the truth is, is when you're meeting someone that you think is gonna be a really serious partner, there's so much self-development work, I think, that you go through when you're entering into a really serious partnership to try and become the best version of yourself. Like we talk about that all the time. There's nothing like being married or being in a serious, committed relationship that makes you like evaluate yourself and grow as a person. I think it does that more than anything else you can go through. And you see so much of that on this record of her like diving into like like slow burn is a look back on her past and like where she's come from, and um like lonely and sad is you know, looking at herself. Happy, happy and sad. Happy and sad. I'm sorry. The other one's about being lonely.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

Lonely weekend, yeah. Yeah. I th I think it does it is an album where she's reflecting on her past for sure. Although, in my perspective, I think it's still her in that kind of post puppy love stage, you know, there's very much that it there reality hasn't quite hit yet, but you know, it's it's sort of the whole album is just about you know, looking back so that you know you're ready to uh you're having all these emotions and you're ready to accept them and see where it goes.

SPEAKER_03 11:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

And the thing with Casey is that talking about just to talk about her previous work up to that point, yeah, is you know, she was very much, you know, sort of the up-and-coming um progressive country singer, songwriter. Her first album, uh, same trailer, different park, which I remember buying because I remember she performed it at the Grammys and she beat out Taylor Sloy for the best country Grammy for that record. And it's a phenomenal record. A lot of her songs uh from the from those first two records, they tend to be, you know, very, very fun, very, very funny, very tongue-in-cheek, you know, very turn of phrase lyrically, you know. That was because that's the tradition she came from, you know.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Yeah, that's I mean, I write stuff like that. Country definitely, especially country female songs are very tongue-in-cheek. They're very she does a lot of metaphor.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Um but not a lot, but not but not with a lot of uh country pop production that was um you know very widely popular at the time. She was trying to do something very different. And I love those first two records. I saw her in concert on the pageant material tour twice.

SPEAKER_03 12:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

And I love that record. I think that's an underrated record that really doesn't get talked about enough. There's a couple songs, great songs on it, Late to the Party, Somebody to Love. So from there, I remember seeing interviews with her talking about Golden Hour and saying, like, yeah, I just wanted to do something different. I didn't I didn't want to, you know, I love this kind of country songwriting, but I want to, you know, do something different, maybe evolve from that a little bit. Because this is not there's there's country elements to this record, but it's very much even a departure from those previous records musically. And a lot of the song and a lot of the songs flow in this kind of almost song cycle type of um type of flow. And that's large in part to the her working with these producers, Daniel Tashian and uh Ian of Fitchuk, I think that's how you pronounce his name, uh top my head. And um and it was a different sound. That's and she chose to work with them as opposed to previously with like Shay McNally and Josh and Josh Osbourne, who actually did contribute uh songs with Casey on this record, one of them being Space Cowboy, which was the first single. That one and Butterflies were the first singles. And I remember the day those came out, and Space Cowboy, I probably listened to that song 20 times that day it came out. It's it's one of those songs where lyrically it feels like it's too clever, but because sometimes you can listen to lyrics and they're like kind of too clever that they you know sort of get up their own, ask me no questions. But um but but this one this one avoids that somehow, and it's it's kind of hard to explain why, but I just remember I also very much personally resonated with that song at the time, too.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Yeah. Yeah. This oh man, I just love this record so much.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

It's I listened to this record incessantly, especially when I because I bought it on vinyl the day it came out from Grimes, because it came out when I right after I moved to Nashville. It came out and I bought it, and that kind of you know, really was you know, my I mean it was my album of the year, but it was really the album of sort of me really kind of starting to move forward in in really getting acquainted with Nashville, even though it's not what I would call very like a Nashville record.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

It's not a Nashville record, it really isn't.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Her previous records, you could kind of see that, but with this one, even though I believe it was recorded in Nashville, it was so different. But it definitely there was a lot of influences in it that I yeah that were familiar to me, but it also in some ways I think broke new ground in terms of being part of the country genre. Because I, you know, I won the country Grammy and one album of the year Grammy, you know. There's all these things, but just as a standalone record with music overall, it really connected with people.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

So I've I have two things, and then I want to get into the tracks, like the mini gritty of the tracks, but I have two things before that. First, we said something I want to go back to. We said this isn't a Nashville record, and I can just picture somebody who who isn't in the Nashville music scene that doesn't know what that means. Can you like explain a little bit more what we mean by that? Because I know what we mean by that, but I'll be curious to hear your response.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

Well, this is a very artist focused record, you know, it's not your typical like like music row, you know, studio musician just banging out a track kind of record, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Yeah, because Nashville can feel like a music factory. Yeah, it can feel like we know the formula for a hit, we're going to create a record around that. It's it's built to sell millions of copies, and we know the formula. And this this record is not produced that way.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

It's not at all. At all, no. And and even though some of the collaborators have delved into that area of country, you know, some more than others, this very much, you know, stood out. Um, and there were a few albums around that time that that did the same thing, like Sturgeur Simpson's Sailor's Got to Earth was another one of them. That one, the Country Grammy, the year after. Um, or actually it might have been no that one 2018 and Golden Hour one 2019, because of the release date cycle. Yeah, so there was this whole thing happening where you're you're the country albums that were getting the most wide um general public recognition were not your typical music row records, you know. And which is like you said, you could it could be formulaic, you know. H you hinted at that earlier. And that's why this album really stood out, is because it really did its own thing, but it did it in a very sincere and focused way. And that's what I said about Casey when she was coming out, you know, in page material. I remember I went to go see her in LA, and there was this guy that was doing like interviews with fans for like a radio thing or whatever. And one of the things I said is like I think she's the most sincere country artist since Vince Gill.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

I've never put it that way. I think that's an interesting yeah, there's a sincerity there.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Mm-hmm. And that's why this album holds up. I mean, that's why this album I think resonated, but I think that's why it holds up because there's still something very uh pure and honest about it, you know? Yeah. Without without without being like insipid or or just overly sentimental.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

I mean, I think for me, like as an artist myself, Casey, this record to me is the gold standard for modern country albums. When I think about writing my album, I think about this album during that process because I think about to be honest, I think about this and I think about 21 by Adele. Like there are just certain records that I think are perfect records, and I think this is one of them. And when it comes to country records, in the kind of country records I want to make, this is pretty pretty close to perfect in terms of like sincerity and authenticity, um, and just that autobiographical singer-songwriter. I opened my journal, I shared it in hopes that somebody would feel seen. Like that's always been my hope and my mission, and I feel like this record does that so well. It's such a good North Star to kind of shoot for as writers in this in this genre specifically.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Absolutely. And the one extra thing I would add on to that real quick is that it's very progressive, yeah, in a in a lot of ways, both musically uh compared to you know, yeah, country that's before and lyrically as well. You know, it's a very forward-thinking country record. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Um it it allows you, like when you listen to it, it's like, oh wow, somebody was able to take the risks, somebody was able to say production-wise, I'm gonna do something different and authentic. When somebody else does that and and and is successful doing that, it just gives you permission to take the ball f further down the field.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Absolutely, and I think it did that for me as a songwriter at the time because I was I was also trying to do kind of the Americana thing when I was when I moved here and tried to be that songwriter. You know, at some at some point a few months into being in Nashville, and part of that was listening to Golden Hour, but part of it was listening to other things, and I'm like, I just need to write whatever I feel like, yeah, you know, and and this record does that.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

So now one other thing I wanted to talk to you, and then I want to get into the tracks.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

The one other thing, because people may not know anything about this record. We talk a lot about records that were not recognized when they came out. This record is the exception to that. This record was very well received when it came out. Um, it won not only the Grammy for Best Country Record, it won Best Album of the Year. Right. Which I can't remember how long it had been since it country records don't win best album of the year, guys. It just doesn't happen. It's a very niche genre. So can you talk a little bit about how this record was received when it came out and why it was so kind of I mean it was a number one album.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Yeah. It was universally well received and well recognized outside of the country sphere. Right. Because because here's the here's the here's the thing you have to understand, listeners, um, is that what some people might not know about me is that I really go out of my way to explore all the big records that come out the year you know, come out in the year, and that's every genre. But country is kind of weird, and some RB is also a little bit weird to hear too, is because you know, you hear about these records and you hear about them like from big name artists, like you know, like uh Astra McBride or Keith Urban. Yeah. But the thing is is that their records are not not necessarily always reviewed by kind of the usual suspects of uh of music critic publications like Pitchfork and Consequence and and Asteri Gum and things like that. So that's what I because that's what I do. I I do read the reviews as well. And sometimes sometimes I read the reviews to discover the record or to kind of give me an idea of what to expect, you know, or how it's being received, you know. Yeah. Trying not to let it prejudge, give me too much preconceptions about it. But that's the thing is like a lot of country records like music row, formulated country records, don't get uh reviewed by or talked about by those mainstream publications. For better or for worse, it depends who you talk to. Maybe it's a different audience, but and maybe that depends on if the label feels like this the album wants to have more of that universal appeal or or be exposed to that general public audience. Yeah. So Golden Hour got reviewed by everybody, pretty much. Pretty much, you know. Like for for just to compare, for example, um, you know, the biggest country star in the world right now is Ella Langley. You can listen to her first album, but her first album was not reviewed by like, as far as I'm aware, it was not reviewed by Pitchfork, was not reviewed by Consequent Sound. You have to go into very specific country music critic publications to read about how the record was received. Yeah. So so that that's I think in general, from my experience, how I gauged with how popular this record was. And I mean they had tons of copies at uh at Grimy's record shop here in uh East Nashville. The funny thing is I bought a copy and it made noise. It was a it was a fluke uh fluke record. And uh so you had to take it back? I took it back and and they did uh they did it was like I think it was within the like three days, three or four days, and I took it back and I just did a and I just did a direct exchange, you know.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

Yeah, you just got one that was just printed strange.

SPEAKER_02 23:24

Yeah, it was yeah, it made it made noise through the whole thing, and it was like it's definitely not supposed to sound like this. So fun that I I I just remember that as I'm talking about it.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

What a weird little tidbit. That's what I love about that's honestly what I love about this podcast, is it's not just like the music that's on the records, it's like the experience of getting the record and like where you got it, how it was. All right, we're jumping in now. Yes, let's get into the nitty-gritty, let's talk about the actual tracks on this record. First, you know, favorite song right off the bat. We I think we have the same one. Should we say it on three?

SPEAKER_02 23:57

I don't know if we have the same one. Really? Well, actually, we did. No, you know, we did. We do. Uh we have to do you have three, two, one, love is the one thing.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Which you and that was my favorite track. That was your favorite track before we ever met. And that song is not a single, it's not a song that ever gets talked about. Like it is a deep cut on this record.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

And it's a deep cut, she still performs occasionally, you know, every now and then. But I don't understand why it was never a single. And plenty of people I know also have championed this song, and it really stands out, you know, because I think amongst other songs on here, like Slowburn and Butterflies, which kind of and Lonely Weekend there, but you also have like Oh, What a World and Mother, which kind of go into each other, you know. They they're very and Happy and Sav, Velvet Elvis, Wonder Woman are also very similar production-wise, structurally and musically. And Love is a Wild Thing just kind of feels like this really nice break in between before Space Cowboy.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

I when I listened to Love is a Wild Thing, when I I remember listening to that and being like that is a hit song. Like I just love like the way it's written. Like you talk about the formula, right? And like the way it's written, it's like, oh my gosh, that just hits like all the songwriting points you ever want to hit when you try and sit down and write a song. Like it just man, it just feels good. I I really think the only I and I was not there, I have no idea. But the the reason I think it wasn't a single and it wasn't ever promoted the way I would have promoted it, I think it's just because it's a great song. But it like all her other songs are there's something really different about it, and I don't necessarily think Love is a Wild Thing is a different song. I just think it's like great country folk songwriting at its finest. But they're like when you compare that to Velvet Elvis, I've never heard the idea of Velvet Elvis before. I've never heard Space Cowboy the way that she portrayed that before. Love is a Wild Thing. I it's just a phenomenal, phenomenal song.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

I am looking at the track list and it looks like it's the longest song on the record. Oh, maybe that was wild. Which affects things towards it.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Which is funny because especially in that in 2018, 2019. Yeah, that's kind of that's why it's kind of funny.

SPEAKER_02 26:17

That's why it's kind of funny, you know. And yeah, there's just something very euphoric about that song, and maybe that's because it's in the key of B flat, which to me is like one of my favorite keys.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

We're such nerds. To me, it's the perfect key.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

Um, I also like songs D major by Degress. Um but yeah, no, absolutely love the song. That's that's my favorite Space Cowboy. Uh of course, like I said before, that's my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Um that's your second. So when you said you thought we had different favorites, was it because you were thinking of Space Cowboy? Um what was your other one that you were considering to be your favorite?

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Well, I I'm I I will say well, I will say that Space Cowboy was my first favorite because that was the single. And then I and then because Love is a Wild thing wasn't a single, I didn't hear that until I heard the record, and that became my favorite, you know. But the other one that was my favorite even before that, because it was a single was High Horse.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

I love High Horse. Yeah. I love the production on High Horse. Like I think it's just such like I listened to that song, I'm like, this just feels cool. Like it's a whole vibe.

SPEAKER_02 27:21

It's this perfect country disco bigger. It feels like John Wayne to me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

If he was in a disco bar.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

That's the lyric of it. I know, but it but it's a gay, but it's a gay John Wayne, though.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

It is a yeah, it's like if if John Wayne walked into the lipstick lounge in Nashville.

SPEAKER_02 27:36

That's and and if he was actually gay too.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

Yeah, yeah. If John Wayne was a drag queen. That's right. That's right, that's it would be That's what we're trying.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

That's right that's right, you know, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

I mean, like what a vibe. What a vibe.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

Yeah, it's this sort of BG's disco country thing, which which actually, funnily enough, is is much more uh frequent than you might think. You know, there's a this whole kind of heritage of country disco and which is being carried on by Sturgeil Simpson, aka Johnny Boost guys. Listen to that new episode.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

You heard it here first. I think Ella Lingley's gonna have a lot of that in her upcoming record.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

There's definitely a lot of 80s in record. There's a lot of 80s happening. 80s 80s happening in her record, so I would be very interested to see if she incorporates some you know disco funk dance elements in that too, which which is always a welcome thing. But um, yeah, I loved High Horse. I also listened to a High Horse Incessantly. When it went when it was uh came out as a single.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

The song I remember taking over the world at the time was Slowburn.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

Slowburn, it's funny because that was never my favorite. It was never my never one of my like top favorites that I listened to repeatedly. But um, that's definitely the song that I think you know, the more you listen to it, the better it gets, you know.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

It's a slow burn. That's right. I loved that Slow Burn was the start of the record. I because to me that song is an is an autobiography. It's this is who I am as an artist, absolutely, which we hadn't heard so explicitly from Casey before that. I mean, I don't in some ways we have. In some ways, yeah, but that song is like very like let me tell you who I am. And to start your whole record like that, I thought was quite a statement and a really nice setup.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

The closest I remember uh songs that kind of touched on that in the past from her were Mary Go Round and uh Dime Store Cowgirl. Yeah, you know, because of her talking of her talking about where she well, that was more of her talking about where she was from, as where Slowburn is more of like more uh internal, more introspective.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Yeah, it felt like a diary entry.

SPEAKER_02 29:51

Mm-hmm. And we get that sort of starting off very introspective, and then from Lonely Weekend to Butterflies, we transition into this sort of coming from because I think she because she was before, I believe, in a long-term relationship with with the guitarists from her band. One of the guitarists from her from her um from her band up to that point before Golden Hour came out, and then that fizzled, and and then it was I don't think it was actually long after that is when she met Rustin. And so from Only Weekend to Butterflies is that transition, I think, from sort of that you know, alone period into falling in love again or starting to fall in love again, and it and it goes from there. Oh, what a world is kind of that euphor it talks about that euphoria and mother is nostalgic, and then love is a wild thing is sort of the peak of it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

I want to talk about mother.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Uh which because mother, like if you have to pick the most surprising track, it's mother. Well, and if it's not mother for anybody, I think you're wrong.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

Like if I tell it's wrong, I feel about so I remember reading the interviews, and she says she wrote it on a NASA trip.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Well, it sounds like that. I mean, is it is it just a solo right? Um, it's a co-right.

SPEAKER_02 31:10

It's a co-wright, but but she might Mother is bizarre. But she might have had the bulk of the song, you know, pretty much attacked, but it's a very short song, it's only a minute and 20 minutes. Yeah. A minute and 20 seconds, excuse me.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

And when you were saying earlier this record feels like a song cycle, Mother is the reason why. Because it's short, it's just there to fill like this moment. If you listen to Mother by itself, it doesn't make sense. But in the context of the record, it is to me one of the things that makes this record so wonderful. Like the way that piano part is it at the very end, like oh, it's just artistic gold. It's so freaking cool.

SPEAKER_02 31:47

I think if I remember correctly, maybe it was her and her producer, one of her producers, were on the acid trip together, so then they wrote the song. So that makes sense. You know, whatever you need to do. Don't exactly quote me on that. Look up for yourself because we're we're we're a little we're going a little just a tiny bit off the cuff. But the the other song cycle I think exists in the song is the uh the the the hat trick of happy sad velvet elvis and wonder woman because they all share share a lot of the same DNA musically and production wise. Absolutely. The melodies are similar, but the lyrics are what make them each distinct from each other. But you know, like that that that kind of thing has has always been around pretty much as long as popular music has been around in the 20th century, you know. And then a free day that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 32:34

The other song we have to mention because it's just another perfect song on this record, is Rainbow.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

It's a perfect song. I don't care what anybody says.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

It is, and um, it's the perfect, it's one of the the all-time great closing tracks to a record. And the most interesting thing I think about that song is that that song kind of retroactively became partly an anthem for the LGBTQ community, which which Casey has always had a very strong and symbiotic relationship with that audience, which I think is beautiful, which I it is, and I think that's also part of how this record has has that universal appeal because let's be honest for a moment, you know, the country music industry is very for lack of better words, very rigid, and doesn't doesn't always go out of its way to expand its audience, you know, whether or whether or have artists that that you know have write songs or make music that have that more expansive, broader appeal. You know, it most of it very much appeals to a very specific demographic, you know, for yeah, you know and that's not a bad thing, it's not a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

It's just like what it's what it what it's what it is, right? Like country music is it came from a specific gender demographic of people and it's written for a specific demographic of people.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

And we're talking like modern country to be to be exact, you know? Yeah. Because because the roots of country kind of there's a lot more to that, but in terms of like country pop in the country music row industry, you know, it's um it is that, you know, there there's not as much of a they don't they don't focus on that as much, you know, more or as much as probably uh would would like to.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

Yeah, I I think I think as a as a country artist, as a folk artist, like you think a lot about the people that you're you're trying to represent in your songs. And for me that's um a lot of where I come from, which is where a very rural part of the of America. And I think sometimes in being focused on representing that part, you don't represent a it it doesn't have as strong of a mass appeal like pop does. Um and so but I don't think I think like for me and I think a lot of other artists, they're not necessarily you know being gatekeepy about it. I think they're just trying to represent where they're from very well. But I think that's what makes makes Casey so great is she really invited a very wide audience into her world. Um I do think very naturally.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

Yeah, absolutely. I don't think some artists are necessarily gatekeeping either, you know. I think you know, there's discussions about if the industry is not, but that also kind of exists in a lot of different genres and fields. Um, I mean that exist that existed in rock music for the longest time too, you know.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

So yeah, I mean we have a joke. I had somebody comment on one of my videos like a a couple months ago and was like, this isn't real country. And you know, I kind of looked at Slice and I said, I've made it because it's kind of part of it is somebody I I think a lot of people put a lot of parameters around what is country and and who does it serve. And there seems to be a lot of rules that I don't think are I don't think I mean I don't want those rules.

SPEAKER_02 36:10

And sometimes those those rules, quote unquote, can can seem a bit arbitrary in the first place, you know. The album was successful, it was successful in in the country charts. The other thing to understand though at that around that point was was when Tomato Gate happened too, um, which um basically revealed how how little female country artists get played on country radio, and that and that's not just like you know, outsider-ish uh type of artists like Casey. This is just every female country artist across the board, you know. Yeah. Cause because those songs, you know, didn't really get played on country radio, you know. They got played a little bit on pop radio, me a tiny bit, but you know, they were still successful. The album was still successful regardless, because people bought the album and they streamed it. I think a lot of people that was the that was the thing about when I said I went to go buy the vinyl record, is like a lot of people bought the physical album. Yeah. Which, which, which like it seems like that's why we're talking about it. That's the thing, is like I that matters.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

That matters more than anything.

SPEAKER_02 37:20

Well, well, just by virtue of like I own it on vinyl, and I for a reason, you know, and I don't say that about like every country artist or even of every Americana artist, you know. This is something that, you know, for me is bigger than the genre it came from itself, you know. Right, which is which is the reason why I've always loved it and I've always been down to you know discussing why we're talking about it here, you know.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

And can I also say something about kind of uh it's a little bit of a tangent of this record, but I do think one of the reasons why people bought this record is because the artwork on the vinyl is so beautiful. If you haven't seen it, it's just this bright blue sky. Casey has this beautifully pink fan in front of her face, like it's such like a piece of art. And if you don't know, her sister photographs all of her artwork, and I I just think that is so sweet and cool.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Like it's a very iconic um album cover, yeah. You know, in a way that you know, country some a lot of country records don't look like that. Don't look like that, their album covers don't look like that.

SPEAKER_01 38:29

I think it looks beautiful. I think that's why a lot of people wanted to actually like own it, is because it's just like it's a beautiful, it isn't it is a beautiful vinyl. It just really is. Like from cover to the way the way they did the record, like it's just a very beautiful package. And and I do think that affects why somebody would want it in their home on their shelf, you know.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

Absolutely. And going back to the track list a little bit, um, you know, in terms of the singles, the one that I think became sort of the sleeper was one was um because I think Rainbow was the last single, but the single that came out before that was Golden Hour. Yeah, it was a single.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

Yeah, and it's funny, I always think of Golden Hour a little bit as the sleeper song. Not I think every song is actually perfect on this record. Um, but yeah, that song to me, it's when I think about this record, I don't ever think about the song Golden Hour, but I love that it's the title of the record.

SPEAKER_02 39:21

Actually, let me let me uh let me rephrase. It was not released as a single, but I think on StreamEat it is one of the higher stream songs. Golden Hour? Yeah, it's the title track. It it comes out at the very end towards the very end, right before Rainbow. So, you know, I think initially it wasn't necessarily the song everybody talked about, even though that's the name of the frickin' album. Yeah. But um, yeah, that's also just I think kind of a nice sort of sum-up, thematic sum-up of the whole record.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

Yeah, like I think it's I mean, obviously, I love records like this. I did this with my record Lost, like Lost is a track, but when you name the whole work that it changes the meaning of that word. I feel the same way about Golden Hour, like that title is the perfect title for this record. It's just every song feels the way you feel, like when you hit hit golden hour. When you walk outside and it's golden hour, and everything feels like it has this like magical glow on it. That's how every song in this record feels. And so I just love it as a title, and then I think the song itself is just like it feels the way I want it to feel.

SPEAKER_02 40:33

I remember the feeling when I when I would like when I really listened to it, it was in in that sort of moment in the year when spring turns to summer. Yeah. And and that's kind of the perfect music that I think in encapsulates that.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Yeah. Oh, yeah. This whole record is a vibe, and I just want to like live in the vibe of this record.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 40:55

This is one of the very few, you know, I actually don't I'm not a repeat album person a lot, actually. I like I kind of I'm kind of not either, especially.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

Especially when it comes to most newer records.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

Which I feel like is a very I feel like that's a very like I don't know, I that's a very us thing. I feel like that might be a very musician thing. I feel like most people have their favorite records, and like as people who are constantly putting out music, you're just like trying to be one of those records someone wants to listen to over and over again because it's hard. People have like 10 records that they listen to over and over again. I really don't do that. This is one of the very few records I listen to over and over again. It's like because a lot of times when I'm listening to something, I actually probably don't I actually don't listen to a lot of music, which is probably really surprising for people.

SPEAKER_02 41:43

Well, I think that's kind of normal for for some artists, honestly. I think the thing the the pro the other hurdle is that there's like too many options too. Like you have all the music rarely available, and it's like you gotta like kind of pick which ones you're dedicated to or you want to go out of your way to listen. Because for every ten times you listen to one album, you could have been listening to nine more albums, you know. Yeah, absolutely. It's it's that um and that's that's very much a current thing. That's more of a problem now, is like you know, having too many options, which is again not necessarily completely thing good or thing bad, it just depends what you do with it. And I and I struggle with that because that's why even I listen to a lot of new albums, I usually only listen to them through once. Right. You know, uh very only only twice um if I really, really am feeling a very personal connection with it. Because that's the thing. For me, I can listen to an album and say, This is a great album, this is a great record. But then on the other side is do I feel like I'm personally connecting with the music, with the lyrics, you know?

SPEAKER_01 42:53

Yeah. And I mean, this record for me is the one that I put on in the in in the morning when I want my day to start off well. Like this is the record when I don't want to have to like analyze anything. I just I just love the way this record makes me feel.

SPEAKER_02 43:08

Yeah, and I think that's part of its general broad appeal is that you just listen to it and you're not having to you know, nothing draws attention to itself more than anything else. So you're focusing on everything, but it creates that effect, yeah, you know, with with doing that as well.

SPEAKER_01 43:28

So one thing I love about uh Casey as a whole is there was this saying that people used to say, like, if you don't like country music, listen to Casey Musgrave. She's the artist that people who don't like country will like. Just kind of funny. And so I'm curious about this record and maybe about her, like if you think that's accurate, why you think that is.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

Um, again, I think part of that I think there's a lot of truth to that, and I remember I remember there was some discussion about that at the time, and there's certain records that get discussed like that too, like Sergio Simpson's catalog gets into that. And I will even use Jason Isbel as an example because he is very much not a music row artist by any stretch of the imagination, but his albums chart on country on the country chart. So, you know, there's some credibility there, but I think it all comes down to them j they're just talking about things that don't get talked about in country in country pop music. I think that's what it comes down to. I think regardless of the production, regardless of the musical influences, um, and regardless even sometimes of the voice. Like I'm just saying, we live in this era of uh post Malone and Jelly Roll doing the country thing for better or for worse, and no one no one in the industry bats an eye, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 44:58

Yeah, nobody says anything about that.

SPEAKER_02 45:00

But that's because lyrically they're talking about the things that are very popular to talk about in country pop. You know, and they're doing it in a way that's very that it's a formula. It's a f in that yeah, they're doing it in a way that's very that's very much in that style. Um, which Casey has done in some ways, even on previous records, but on this one, you know, she's not talking about, you know, um you know, trucks and beer and or these days, what gets talked about, and which is uh being saved by God. Um she talks about being saved by drugs.

SPEAKER_01 45:33

But um gosh, we should edit that out.

SPEAKER_02 45:38

If you know, you know. If you know, if you know, you know. Oh god. But uh Oh my lord. You know, but um yeah, I think that I think that's the bottom line with it. I think that's the bottom line of uh it's just very honest. It's very it's very honest, and it's the it avoids if it if it doesn't avoid cliche, it really it really doesn't does something sincere with it, which is yeah, which is how how you kind of get away with it. Right. I in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 46:09

Well, like when I have people tell me I don't like country music, which happens a lot, to be honest. I I mean that's happened my whole life. Well, whether that's in reference to like I I don't want to listen to your music because I don't like country music, and there's no like no, not that's not a bad conversation, that's just a conversation you have. Or, you know, I remember my really good friend in college, uh, she's like, I why do you listen to country music? Like, I don't like country music. And I'm like, I promise you, you're listening to the wrong thing. Because especially in our current music landscape, like we don't have a great lane for just singer songwriters. We really don't.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

It's yeah, because it either gets lumped in with well, it typically gets lumped in with Americana andor folk.

SPEAKER_01 46:52

Um and that now crosses into country. A lot of people will hear like Jesse Wells, who's an Americana artist, kind of through and through, and they're like, Oh, this is country.

SPEAKER_02 47:02

But but then I say, like, well, that's more folk, you know. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

But that's but that's sort of this is us who like we do this every day. But I'm talking about somebody who's just like they're an accountant and they love music, and they heard Jesse Wells on the radio, they would probably say that's country.

SPEAKER_02 47:17

Yeah, they say it's country, they say it's folk. It's it's it becomes arbitrary at the time. Yeah, it just to a certain point.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

It doesn't matter. And I think, you know, back in the 90s there was adult alternative stations for kind of singer-songwriters. We don't have that anymore.

SPEAKER_02 47:30

It used to be like adult alternative, adult contemporary, which kind of still exists in some way, but not from a marketing perspective.

SPEAKER_01 47:38

Yeah, from a marketing perspective, I really feel like you have two lanes as true singer-songwriters, and that is either bedroom pop or that is Which is which is like pop, which is like either specific what's pop or indie pop. It's kind of like, you know, Taylor Swift had a few things that were kind of in that lane. Um, you know, or it is country folk, Americana, like those are your lanes. If you're really truly like, and I feel this deeply. I'm I guess I'm talking about myself a little bit. If you're really truly what comes out of you, because I I don't think that you can fake what music naturally comes out of you. Like, if you naturally make singer-songwriter, autobiographical, here's my journal, put to music, your two lanes naturally either are kind of bedroom pop or country folk Americana.

SPEAKER_02 48:34

But I think one of those two. But I think to your point, that the bottom line is that this Casey Record Golden Hour is a singer-songwriter right now. It's a singer-songwriter. At the end of the day, it's a singer-songwriter.

SPEAKER_01 48:43

More than anything else.

SPEAKER_02 48:44

Regardless of the sounds or influences or mixes of those influences, it is. One more thing I'll say to that is that I think when people talk about they don't like country music, I think part of that is also the country music culture that I get. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:58

A lot of people there are some corners that I don't want to hang in.

SPEAKER_02 49:01

Yeah, a lot of people don't really jive with that, you know, and the music is kind of a byproduct of that in a lot of ways. And and there's a lot of examples and terms that get tossed around and thrown around, some very accurate, some a little, you know, maybe, maybe a little nuanced, but it is there, you know. And this record, I think, proved that you didn't have to necessarily be a part of that, or if you can make a record that's honest and good, and in the moment of what you feel like you're exploring musically and songwriting-wise, then it's going to be successful.

SPEAKER_01 49:45

I love it. I love it so much. All right. Well, we always end with the same two questions. Um, and that is why does golden hour matter to the culture? And why should someone listen to this record? Why would you pick it up, put it on your shelf? The whole nine yards.

SPEAKER_02 50:03

So we alluded quite a bit to how golden hour is very important to the culture.

SPEAKER_01 50:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:09

Um, although I think we did focus mostly on how it appealed to the country culture and why it went so much against the grain.

SPEAKER_01 50:16

Um I mean, I think there's a clear before and after.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

There is. There is, absolutely. Well, there were In country music, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

There's a before and after. You I don't think you get Zach Bryan in country music before after you know.

SPEAKER_02 50:28

Well, I think I think there is uh there was a lot of factors that played into that around the time again, Sturgeon's Sayers Cut to Earth, Tomato Gate, Brandy Carlisle's uh kind of kind of climb too. There was all these there was all these things happening at once, but the same conversations were happening at the same time of why of why country music has to be you know beholden to a specific industry, to a specific formula, why can't outsiders make what they want to make and still be considered that or be a part of that? Um regardless, I think, of what is considered country or not country enough, quotation marks. Again, that tends to be arbitrary. So what this album really did, I think, was subvert those discussions and prove that this was like this could be an extremely commercially successful and viable product and piece of art at the same time, you know, right that that you you can make music regardless of where you come from, but especially if you come from a country background, you can be more than what that genre or industry formulae wants to be holding to. And it made a great impact on music um as well. I think it maybe in some ways did become sort of a gateway for more artists to get into country music, to get into those different influences that influence Casey, whether they're older ones like Willie Nelson or Vince Gill or or otherwise. I think it did make a a great impact, and I think mainstream wise it uh definitely became a cornerstone for country's popularity in the mainstream, um at least for that moment. And I think in some ways th some of that has changed um in a way that probably is not done in the same way Casey uh did it, so for better or worse, but it really made an impact at that time for sure. And and to the second question, um, which was why would someone listen to it? Why would someone listen to it? It's just a great listen. It's just an enjoyable listen, whether you're listening actively or passively.

SPEAKER_01 52:52

And I can't think of many people who wouldn't enjoy this record.

SPEAKER_02 52:56

Right. And uh yeah, it's it's a record for everybody. Really, yeah, it is a record for everybody, regardless of musically what you're into or what you're not into. There's just something for everybody, and it's a very positive record, you know. Yeah, it is, it's a very positive record, and especially nowadays, you know, we need definitely more positive records or positive leaning records.

SPEAKER_01 53:21

And yeah, you walk away feeling good.

SPEAKER_02 53:23

Yes, you walk away feeling good. There's a sense of euphoric satisfaction to this album.

SPEAKER_01 53:30

I remember a quote, and I can't remember who it was at the time this record came out, it was somebody I really respected, and they just said, I'm putting this record right next to my Joni Mitchell record. And that has just always kind of lived with me. I think when we, you know, get through the next 50 years and we go back and we say what were some of the most influential records of our time, I think this is gonna be in the top 10. I really do. Of our time period, of what affected the artist came after it. For me, this was a life-changing record in terms of the art I create in terms of just as a person. I think it spoke to a lot of feelings. I've never heard another person be able to put into words, um, which I think is kind of the goal of being an artist, is to give words to feelings that people can't. Um but I I don't know. I think I really do think that this will be a very culturally significant record, the even the farther we get from it.

SPEAKER_02 54:27

And I uh I agree with that in terms also of Casey's creative output since then. Cause like we said before, you know, unfortunately her and Rustin were divorced and she made the the the divorce record, which right after this record, which is kind of Well, it's like two years after.

SPEAKER_00 54:46

Um But her next record. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:48

Yeah, which I did not care for that record. But um You know, she it was just kind of her artistic journey, and then Deeper Well, of course, which was a very good record.

SPEAKER_01 55:00

Loved that record.

SPEAKER_02 55:01

And now she's kind of sort of back in that land of uh songwriting wise of her first couple records.

SPEAKER_01 55:07

She's teasing a new record. This episode might come out really close to Yeah, about the same about the time she's cool.

SPEAKER_02 55:14

About the time she's revving up her next album, Middle of Nowhere. So she's always just she's always been a very interesting artist in the uh sort of creative approach of in terms of in terms of songwriting.

SPEAKER_01 55:26

I just feel like Casey, the reason why people look up to her is she's just an artist that's never been afraid to go there. Never been exp afraid to explore something new, something different, a different kind of sound, a different kind of production, a different kind of lyric style. Um and that's why she is who she is. That's why she's influenced so many people.

SPEAKER_02 55:46

Precisely. Well, thank you everybody for tuning in to this episode of Home Records. If you like what you've been hearing, you can follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever podcasts are available.

SPEAKER_01 55:59

If you like to show your support, please give us a five-star review and be sure to spread the word to all your friends, family, and enemies. Thank you guys again, and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_02 56:09

Bye bye.