Country music is, as virtually everyone who reads Complex surely knows, inherently isolationist — often rejecting societal changes in favor of thematic retreads and a plethora of finely-tuned fake accents. In short, modern country music is a cheap, insulting farce. However — every thousand years or so — someone enters the genre only to swiftly outgrow it through a series of proclamations of individuality. One such figure is Kacey Musgraves, a country artist by iTunes classification but something far more interesting to those paying attention.
Pageant Material, the second entry in the Musgraves catalog, was released earlier this week to much tweeted fanfare. However, when Kacey stopped by NPR for her Tiny Desk performance — she shined most during a passionate revisit of her 2013 Same Trailer Different Park single "Follow Your Arrow." Speaking to the audience before an extended rendition of the track, Musgraves spoke candidly about that day's news of the Supreme Court's historic decision on marriage equality:
"How great of a day is today? If I keep talking about it, I'm going to get emotional. My sister called me, ugly-crying, about the legalization of gay marriage, and so — while we're here — if it's okay with you, I would love to do 'Follow Your Arrow.' I think it's appropriate. Now that it's all legal, I don't have anything to sing about!"
Watch the full performance above.