Kacey Musgraves returns with “Dry Spell” and a new album, Middle of Nowhere

kacey musgraves spent the past week teasing something new, then made it concrete with a single: “Dry Spell. ” The release arrives alongside an announcement that ties the moment to a larger body of work, her next studio album, Middle of Nowhere, a 13-track project set for May 1 on Lost Highway.

Kacey Musgraves and “Dry Spell, ” from billboards to a co-directed video

The first public sign of the rollout came in physical form. Kacey Musgraves previously placed billboards in several cities reading, “dry spell? Call for a real good time. ” Now that tagline has a song attached to it, with “Dry Spell” leaning into her familiar wordplay. Among the lines highlighted with the release is a sequence that sketches absence through everyday objects: “ain’t nobody’s tool up in my shed / ain’t nobody’s boots under my bed / ain’t nobody’s truck in my drive / for a late night call for a real good time. ”

“Dry Spell” also arrives with a music video co-directed by Musgraves and Hannah Lux Davis. The pairing keeps Musgraves close to the presentation of the song itself, linking the new track to a visual that matches the single’s tone. Still, the larger announcement sitting behind the video is the album: Middle of Nowhere, positioned as the next chapter after 2024’s Deeper Well.

Middle of Nowhere arrives May 1 on Lost Highway, with Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk

Middle of Nowhere is described as a 13-track effort produced by Musgraves’ longtime collaborators Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk. Musgraves framed the record as something made during what she called “the longest single period” of her life, a stretch that brought an unexpected steadiness. “For the first time, it actually felt incredible being alone and existing in a space not defined by anyone else, ” she said.

Her description of the album centers on the idea of “liminal space, ” both “geographical and emotional, ” and on resisting the urge to define what comes next too quickly. She said she became “so at ease with being in the ‘middle of nowhere’ in many senses and sitting in the un-comfort of the undefined. ” That period, she added, opened room for “creative ambling” and a return to writing with early collaborators while living between Texas, Tennessee, and Mexico, with references to “horses” and “humor” as part of the everyday texture.

The album also brings in a set of guests named track-by-track: Willie Nelson appears on “Uncertain, Texas, ” Miranda Lambert on “Horses and Divorces, ” Billy Strings on “Everybody Wants To Be a Cowboy, ” and Gregory Alan Isakov on “Coyote. ” A description of the record points to a specific instrumental palette—pedal steel, accordion, and Texas dancehall rhythms—used as a “nostalgic framework” that Musgraves “flips on its head, ” while also echoing influence from adjacent genres including bluegrass, pop, and “bits of norteño and zydeco. ”

Lost Highway, Deeper Well, and what has not been announced yet

The May 1 release date lands within a longer arc of label history and recent momentum. Musgraves returned last year to the reactivated Lost Highway, which she signed to in 2011 before the imprint was absorbed by Mercury Records. That label released her 2013 debut, Same Trailer Different Park, described as Grammy-winning.

Middle of Nowhere follows 2024’s Deeper Well, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Country albums chart. The track “The Architect” won the Grammy for Best Country Song. Another account of her recent awards notes she won Best Country Song for “The Architect” last year, bringing her total Grammy wins to eight.

For now, one piece of the album cycle remains unfilled: as of now, Musgraves has not announced touring plans in support of Middle of Nowhere. That absence puts extra weight on what is available—one single, one co-directed video, and a full tracklist that sketches the album’s terrain before anyone sees what it looks like onstage.

The tracklist, led by “Dry Spell, ” lays out the names that will define the record’s path: “Middle of Nowhere, ” “Back on the Wagon, ” “I Believe in Ghosts, ” “Abilene, ” “Loneliest Girl, ” “Rhinestoned, ” “Mexico Honey, ” and “Hell on Me, ” alongside the featured tracks with Nelson, Lambert, Strings, and Isakov. The opening billboard question—“dry spell?”—now has an answer in a song, and the next confirmed step is the album itself, arriving May 1.