A yodeling champion from rural East Texas who performed for President George W. Bush at age 11 grew into a genre-defying icon singing openly about LGBTQ acceptance, marijuana, and heartbreak. We explore how Kacey Musgraves redefined country music from the inside out without ever abandoning her roots.

From the classic-sounding Trojan horse of Same Trailer Different Park and the controversial Follow Your Arrow to the synth-lush romance of Golden Hour and the raw divorce album Star-Crossed, this is a masterclass in expanding a genre rather than rejecting it.

• Her intense childhood grind of yodeling championships and Texas festivals
• The sonic deception of pairing classic country production with modern lyrics
• Drawing on John Prine and Dolly Parton to defend observational songwriting
• The Grammy-sweeping crossover of Golden Hour and her nude SNL performance
• Later triumphs including I Remember Everything and the Deeper Well era