Watch Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert Bury the Hatchet at Gruene Hall

Hell just froze over. Two of East Texas’ finest squashed their beef and shared a stage Tuesday, the final night of Kacey Musgraves’ historic Gruene Hall run.  

The previous two nights, Musgraves sang “Horses and Divorces” – her new ultra-Texas duet with Miranda Lambert – solo, telling the people packed into the 800-capacity room that recording the song ended a longstanding feud between the two country stars. On Tuesday, she let Lambert tell her side of the story in a surprise appearance.

“Tonight we bury the hatchet here in Gruene Hall, y’all,” Lambert said as Musgraves welcomed her onstage, the two sharing a side hug.

“We’re both dumb bitches, honestly,” Musgraves replied before they launched into the song. 

The “grass-fed, grade A” beef began over a decade ago, when Musgraves was an upcoming songwriter getting ready to launch a solo career. Musgraves earmarked a song she co-wrote, “Mama’s Broken Heart,” for her debut album when it was pitched to Lambert. It went on to become a massive hit for Lambert on 2011’s Four the Record. 

Yet as “Horse and Divorces” details, the two undeniably had common ground. 

Musgraves – who has a well-documented love of horses; she entered this year’s Coachella performance on horseback – told Variety that the idea for the duet came about when she was scrolling Instagram.

“I had this idea one day when I saw her on Instagram, riding one of her horses, and I thought, ‘Well, I guess we have two things in common: horses and divorces.’ And I was like, ‘Wait, that’s a song.’”

Horses, divorces, a love of drinking, and Willie Nelson (the line in the song: “What asshole doesn’t love Willie?”) make a powerful base for healing. But perhaps it was the magic of a dusty dancehall that thawed any residual tension. The women’s voices blended easily as they stood shoulder to shoulder, switching between quippy calls and responses and harmonizing. By the end of the duet, the stiff side hug they greeted each other with was replaced by a full sweaty embrace, complete with a church back pat from Musgraves. 

The ground thundered as hundreds of pairs of boots stomped the wooden floor in lieu of applause.

Credit: Abby Johnston

Musgraves’ latest album Middle of Nowhere (May 1) leans heavily on collaborators, though Lambert was the only one to make it out for the Gruene shows marking its release. (Musgraves claimed Billy Strings had to turn down an invite due to a broken leg.) Over an hour and a half, Musgraves played all of the album’s 13 songs, plus two bonus tracks she released Tuesday. 

But Lambert wasn’t the only special guest at Gruene. Mariachi brothers Antonio, Caleb, and Joshua Gámez-Cuéllar – along with their father, Luis Antonio Gámez – opened all three nights. Just two months before, the McAllen, Texas, family had been in ICE detention after attending a routine check in. 

“This is Texas at its best,” Musgraves said as she invited the family back to join her for three songs of her set, including ranchera standard “Tú, Sólo Tú.”

Arthur Jiménez, the son of the late Tejano accordionist Flaco Jiménez, was in the crowd. From the stage, Musgraves explained she wanted Flaco to record with her on “Uncertain, TX,” but despite working with Arthur to pull it off, the legend declined due to his health (she settled for the great unifier Willie Nelson instead). Musgraves dedicated “Uncertain, TX” to Arthur and his family, who lost Flaco in July. 

Lambert’s surprise appearance was a fitting end to the Gruene Hall shows, extraordinary in both circumstance and performance caliber. Despite being out for less than a week, Musgraves and even the crowd settled comfortably into Middle of Nowhere. Her vocals were tight and commanding, and the audience was off book enough for Musgraves to let them finish parts of choruses. 

Musgraves called Middle of Nowhere a new chapter that represents “her heart, her Texas roots.” In some ways, it’s a return to form, a sophisticated blend of the country, folk, and pop she has cultivated for years that embraces its Texas accent. Musgraves has always had the Texas bona fides, but her nods to the cowboy and Tejano cultures that shape the state’s identity are prominent and proud on her sixth full length. 

So what better place to debut it to the world than Gruene Hall, where Musgraves – once a yodeler on the opry circuit – grew up going? “There is a magic here you can’t explain to someone who has never been,” she said. 

Credit: Abby Johnston

The post Watch Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert Bury the Hatchet at Gruene Hall appeared first on The Austin Chronicle.