Kacey Musgraves Announces 'Middle of Nowhere,' Drops Honest New Single

Kacey Musgraves just announced her sixth studio album, Middle of Nowhere, and dropped a lead single that opens with a very specific number: 335 days without sex. "Dry Spell" is exactly the kind of unfiltered, wryly funny confessional that made Musgraves a crossover force in the first place — and it signals that her next record might be her most personal yet.

The album lands May 1, 2026 via Lost Highway Records, the legendary Nashville imprint that once housed Lucinda Williams and Ryan Adams. It's a notable label move that feels intentional, especially given what Musgraves has said about the project's direction. She described the sound as a love letter to the edges of country music, pulling from bluegrass, pop, Norteño, and Zydeco. Thirteen tracks, produced by Musgraves alongside her longtime collaborators Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk — the same team behind Golden Hour.

The guest list is stacked. Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert, Billy Strings, and Gregory Alan Isakov all make appearances. That's a lineup that spans classic outlaw country, progressive bluegrass, and folk — which tells you a lot about where Musgraves is headed sonically.

"The bulk of this record was made during the longest single period of my life," Musgraves told Rolling Stone. "I found that for the first time, it actually felt incredible being alone and existing in a space not defined by anyone else."

“"The bulk of this record was made during the longest single period of my life," Musgraves told Rolling Stone.”

That solitude clearly shaped the album's DNA. The title itself comes from a sign outside her hometown of Golden, Texas that reads "Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere" — a detail that doubles as both autobiography and thesis statement. The record leans hard into themes of liminal space and self-discovery, the uncomfortable quiet that comes when you stop filling your life with other people.

As for "Dry Spell," the music video — co-directed by Musgraves and Hannah Lux Davis — finds her wandering through a grocery store, which is honestly the perfect visual metaphor for lonely domesticity. The lyrics are blunt and funny in equal measure, referencing the washing machine as a coping mechanism with zero subtlety.

Middle of Nowhere follows 2024's Deeper Well, continuing a run of albums that have pushed Musgraves further from the mainstream country lane and deeper into her own thing. With a Grammy for Album of the Year already on the shelf from Golden Hour, the bar is high. But between the collaborator roster, the genre-blending ambition, and the raw honesty on display in "Dry Spell," this has all the ingredients of a major statement. Keep an eye on the full tracklist drop and any tour announcements in the weeks ahead.