Kacey Musgraves Pageant Material

Kacey Musgraves’ second major-label album opens with a double entendre-filled ode to smoking pot, indicating right away that the singer-songwriter isn’t interested in pandering to the Nashville establishment that has largely kept her off country radio while she wins awards and critical acclaim. The rest of Pageant Material follows suit, doubling down on the “be yourself” sentiments of Musgraves’ 2013 hit “Follow Your Arrow,” sometimes a little repetitively. Nearly half the songs on the album have some sort of message about following your arrow, whether it’s “Mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy” on catchy single “Biscuits” or “Love hard, live fast, die fun” on “Die Fun” or “You can’t be everybody’s cup of tea” on “Cup of Tea.”

Musgraves wraps these messages in quirky turns of phrase and pleasant melodies, but they do feel a little worn out by the end of the album. Musically, Pageant Material is refreshingly low-key, with none of the arena-rock bombast that dominates modern country. Musgraves (who co-wrote and co-produced the entire album) mixes down-home twang with the pop-friendly sheen that landed her an opening slot for Katy Perry. “I’d rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain’t,” she sings on the title track, and Pageant Material sounds like another win.