» vevo.ly

» vevo.ly

» www.slate.com

We're excited to announce that we'll be hitting the road in February for a headlining tour, starting Feb 12 in Denton, TX. We'll be out for a couple of weeks, including a stop in Chicago for WXRT's Winter Soulstice on Feb 16. Tickets for that show will go on sale Friday, and the rest will go up this weekend, so check back here for tickets and more information on these shows.

The debut single from country Next Big Thing Musgraves is a bleak-but-clever take on small-town inertia and ennui. This merry-go-round is no carnival ride, but the tune is gorgeous.

» www.rollingstone.com

» www.washingtonpost.com

Packaging stormy lives into a sunny country-pop arrangement, the future country star stares unblinkingly at the tragic underbelly of small-town life.

» www.npr.org

» www.npr.org

Packaging stormy lives into a sunny country-pop arrangement, the future country star stares unblinkingly at the tragic underbelly of small-town life.

» www.npr.org

» www.npr.org

» www.cmt.com

» perezhilton.com

Kacey Musgraves

“Merry Go ‘Round”

“Our pick for the next Taylor Swift? This 24-year-old Nashville break-out – check out this catchier-than-Ebola slice of trailer-park Blues and hear why.”
 

Click here to listen to the entire playlist on Rdio.

» www.rdio.com

» smarturl.it

» 615digital.com

When she got around to ["It Is What It Is"] on Thursday night, the third in her set at the Highline Ballroom, she didn’t seem especially drained. She delivered it with matter-of-factness, almost a shrug. People are damaged, no need to make a scene about it.

That was the theme Ms. Musgraves kept returning to during this too-short but authoritative set at One Night in... New York City, an annual benefit by the gossipmonger Perez Hilton for the VH1 Save the Music Foundation.

» www.nytimes.com

Famed blogger and music enthusiast Perez Hilton is returning to New York City for his legendary "One Night In..." concert series. This year, all procedes of ticket sales will benefit The VH1 Save The Music Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music eduation in America's public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as a part of each child's complete education. 

Past performers of the "One Night in..." series include Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Florence + the Machine, and Mary J Blige. 

Visit PerezHilton.com for talent announcements

General Admission - All ages welcome

VIP - Guests must be 21+  

Wristbands will be available for pickup at the box office on October 18,2012 from 3:00pm - 7:30pm

Photo id and ticket confirmation is required to redeem wristbands

All ticket sales are final 

VIP tickets include a sponsored open bar and access to the VIP balcony

» www.rollingstone.com

» tasteofcountry.com

» www.billboard.com

Brian Mansfield included Kacey’s single in his weekly installment/column “My Semicolon Life.” “Merry Go ‘Round” will be featured in his next USA TODAY Playlist.

Music that makes me want to live

Cancer has changed the way I hear music, more than any other life event except marriage. Songs I once appreciated only on a surface level now strike deep at the core of my soul. Some inspire me; some terrify me. Others that I might have liked before I've got no use for now. I've also got more time to listen, whether it's during my morning exercise time or while lying in a hospital bed. These songs form part of the soundtrack to my cancer story.

1. The Bravest Man In the Universe, Bobby Womack

2. Long Way to Go, Dwight Yoakam

3. Merry Go 'Round, Kacey Musgraves

4. Charmer, Aimee Mann

5. Be Still, The Killers

Read more at www.USATODAY.com

» www.usatoday.com

When the writers at Engine 145 reviewed "Merry Go 'Round," they didn't just call it the best debut single in country music. They deemed it "one of the best singles of the year in any genre."

Depressing yet catchy, well-written and excellently sung, ["Merry Go 'Round"]’s everything that’s good about country music, a no-nonsense song to wipe “Truck Yeah” from minds, if not charts... If this single is indicative of the music and songwriting on the record, we’re in for a real treat.

» www.engine145.com

» www.nypost.com

A week ago, the folks at Slate's culture blog say, they had never heard of Kacey Musgraves. With the official release of her debut single "Merry Go Round," that all changed-- and now they're asking if the 24-year-old Texas native is the future of country music. Here's what they had to say about her first single:

The lyric is a piece of high-Nashville craftsmanship, ringing witty variations on the homonyms Mary/married/merry. But it’s not wordplay-for-wordplay’s sake. The chorus is a gut-punch—a bleak home-movie vision of small town life, where addiction, adultery, boredom, and disappointment are passed down from generation to generation. 

» www.slate.com

The story goes like this: Texas teen auditions for ‘Nashville Star,’ doesn’t win but uses the experience as motivation to sharpen her pen so that she can release her own melodic country music years later. The result strikes deep; right to the bone. It’s uncomfortably close to reality for millions of Americans without offering much hope. Sound familiar? 

Kacey Musgraves may have followed the same path as Miranda Lambert, but her debut single ‘Merry Go Round’ stands on its own as an honest review of the anchor that can be small town life. It’s a song for rural Americans that feel trapped by rural America. The rest of us are lucky enough to bathe in her sweet melody, assured that she’s surely not talking about us.

Read more about Kacey Musgraves at TasteOfCountry.com

» tasteofcountry.com

» itunes.apple.com

Country Music Is Love really loves Kacey Musgraves! They called "Merry Go 'Round"'s first week at Country Radio impressive:

Mercury Records’ singer/songwriter Kacey Musgraves released her debut single, “Merry Go ‘Round,” to radio and iTunes this past week. The Texas native’s co-write with Josh Osborne and Shane McAnally received an impressive 47 adds its first week. In fact, there was such high anticipation for “Merry Go ‘Round” that the song appeared on the charts at No. 50 a week early before it even went for adds. After just one week “Merry Go ‘Round” sits inside the Top 40.

» www.countrymusicislove.com

» www.binghammusic.com

» www.countryuniverse.net

Kacey Musgraves is featured on Perezhilton.Com 

Miranda Lambert went on to record this song, but we prefer the original - written and demo'd by Kacey Musgraves.

It's less commercial and glossy and more honest and raw and real.

Kacey Musgraves is such a great songwriter! Her pop melodies and country storytelling hits a sweet spot in our heart!

For the full article, check out Perezhilton.com

» perezhilton.com

"Holy shit! Thanks, guys!"
 

The lead singer now known as Suzanne Santo (right) seemed genuinely stunned by the enthusiastic reception she and Honeyhoney co-founder Ben Jaffe received two songs into their set as support onJames Morrison's headlining stop at theFox Theatre in Boulder, Colorado,
on May 8.
 

They were only two songs into a 34-minute set, just finishing "Back to You," one of their popular tour fixtures that is nowhere to be found on their two long-playing studio releases
 

Even though Honeyhoney was the opening act, college students, aging hipsters and a few graybeards formed an impressively long line down 13th Street more than an hour before the doors opened, either sensing greatness in their midst or hoping to catch the Next Big Thing before they fade away. Crowds don't often start filling up the Fox until after the first group has finished.
 

The groundswell of support is growing for these sharp-looking pair of platonic friends since the release of Billy Jack, their star-making record released through Lost Highway. That's the cool country branch of Universal with an impressive roster of artists that includes Lucinda Williams, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson and the Jayhawks. After critically acclaimed stops at SXSW and Coachella, Honeyhoney continues to attract a beehive of activity around them.
 

They'll start the summer festival season over Memorial Day weekend at Sasquatch among a formidable group of artists, including Jack White, the Shins and Bon Iver, support Sheryl Crow in July, then cap off the month at the prestigious Newport Folk Festival.
 

That's quite a heady agenda for a pretty pair so unpretentious that they walked their way from the cozy Fox lobby through the crowd to the stage, smiles on their faces and instruments in their hands. If only they could resolve this love/hate relationship with capitalizing/lowercasing their group name.

Santo, still wearing her short black dress with the tiny white polka dots, kept fans engaged afterward by signing autographs or conversing pleasantly more than an hour after the start of Morrison's white-soul-brother-from-an-English-mother act.
 

Perhaps it's unfair to use that example and an eight-song live performance as a gauge to predict enduring success for a couple of players leading a dual existence. But the smart money here is on Honeyhoney making more of a lasting impression than their groundbreaking predecessors from L.A.
 

Somehow, lone justice will prevail.

For the full article, go to Huffingtonpost.com 

» www.huffingtonpost.com

A Conversation with honeyhoney's Suzanne Santo & Ben Jaffe by The Huffington Post:

Mike Ragogna: Hey, honeyhoney, our traditional kickoff question seems to involve beverages, so what you're drinking today?

Ben Jaffe: This is diet coke, coconut water, mango flavored. We're drinking in SXSW in the lovely Texas air. (Note: This interview took place at SXSW)

MR: Excellent. So what's going on with honeyhoney?

Suzanne Santo: I'm having a really good time. It's overwhelming, but also, every minute is incredibly stimulating, there's so much to see. 6th Street looks like an orgy.

MR: It is an orgy.

SS: I think it is. But I'm really recognizing the importance of hydration and little naps.

BJ: Catnaps.

MR: You're on a very cool label. You've got the whole apparatus.

SS: They're also really attractive. I don't know if people know that collectively, as a group, they are very attractive people.

BJ: But not just in a shallow way, inside and out. These are people that go down to the mat for you.

MR: Fount Lynch, who's sitting to our left, what do you think of these guys?

Fount Lynch: They are the best-looking band on the label.

SS: Why don't we just turn this relationship into a physical one? (laughs)

For the full interview, go to huffingtonpost.com

CityBeat interviewd Honeyhoney about their latest album, "Billy Jack."

Honeyhoney is an up-and-coming group out of Los Angeles that offers a soulful, folksy sound that has led to comparisons to The Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons. A combination of Suzanne Santo's strong voice and banjo/fiddle playing and the voice and guitar of Ben Jaffe, honeyhoney's sound (despite the comparisons) is a unique hybrid that has been intriguing audiences since last October's release of "Billy Jack" and the subsequent relentless touring.

The pair spoke with CityBeat by phone to promote Saturday's performance in Cincinnati at Bogart's (in the club's "Front Room").

CityBeat: I picked up your latest album in the fall when Billy Jack was released and I love it. I saw you were also previewed in Country Weekly in the fall and I just wanted to ask if you consider yourself a Country band.

Ben Jaffe: We don’t but that is kind of a genre that has been thrown at us now, of course, not in a bad way. I should have said "tossed gently to us" and we caught it. It has been a kind of interesting opportunity because we have had a lot of trouble aligning ourselves with a specific group. Everyone says “It sounds like this” or “not enough this” or “not enough that.” I think we are really happy to be embraced by Country people and we love to play in front of them, but I don’t think we call ourselves a Country band.

CB: It’s actually a hard genre to break into. I cover all kinds of music and it’s one of the harder types of music to get the fans to rally around you.

BJ: Completely. And it’s such a citadel, there is a real industry around it so I think that explains why it is tough to make a wave and whatever little ripple we are making is cool and we like to pursue it. Actually, it is interesting, Jamey Johnson was at one of our shows the other day and he expressed some support for us and we might play some shows with him so it kind of seems like it is pulling us in, like in Godfather: Part II.

To read more about CityBeat's interview with Honeyhoney, check out citybeat.com

USA Today music critic, Brian Mansfield, highlights 10 tracks found during the week's listening.

"Brown Eyed Handsome Man" by Lyle Lovett gives a new life to Chuck Berry's charming rascal in this laid back remake from "Release Me"

For the full "playlist", go to USAToday.Com

Entertainment Weekly rates Lyle Lovett's latest album:

Lovett doesn't just cover his favorite songs here, he transforms them. He slows down Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" into a classic country loper, and gives gospel standard "Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Thy Word" a Celtic twist. Best by far is blues hero charley Jordan's "Keep It Clean," which captures Lovett's dead-pan humor: "Put a muzzle on your daddy/ 'Cuz he looks like a bear."

To see the "grade" Entertainment Weekly gave Lyle's "Release Me", Check out EW.Com

"Momma's hooked on Mary Kay. Brother's hooked on Mary Jane. And daddy's hooked on Mary two doors down." And with those lyrics Kacey Musgraves instantly had us hooked on her! We are LOVING the new alterna-country singer and self-confessional writer! Her song Merry Go 'Round is like a big re-energizing breath of fresh air! It is achingly beautiful and melodic! And the lyrics are so refreshingly smart and honest!"

Read more at PerezHilton.com.

» perezhilton.com

Paste Magazine.Com had the pleasure of reviewing Lyle Lovett's latest album, "Release Me"

Somewhere between Leonard Cohen and Bob Wills lies the Promised Land inhabited by Lyle Lovett, who balances elegantly broken romanticism with loose-jointed swing that shuffles and jumps like exalted Texas Playboys. Lanky with high rise hair, Lovett has been an anomaly of the singer/songwriter ilk since appearing with a chock-a-block debut album—and Release Me, his final album of an almost 30-year career for Curb, finds him resolutely steadfast in his excellence and eclecticism.

The jazz standard “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is slyly read by Lovett’s lothario to the Rickie Lee Jones-evoking Kat Edmonson, all slushy vowels and wide-eyed Judy Holliday dishy-ness. With piano sauntering along, resolve crumbles, young love tumbles and the crescendo packs the charm of vintage romantic comedy.

That camaraderie extends to the appearance of Nickel Creek’s Sean and Sara Watkins on the ruminative “Night’s Lullaby,” as well as the horn-propelled “Isn’t That So,” featuring Was (Not Was) vocalists Harry Bowen and Sweetpea Atkinson and bluegrass progressive Sam Bush. That’s the beauty and wonder of Lyle Lovett: coexistence isn’t just natural, it’s tasty.

Winding up with a scorching rendition of Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freightliner Blues”—featuring vocal support from road compadres Keith Sewell, Luke Bulla and Ray Herndon, the combustion desolves into “Keep Us Steadfast,” an old Methodist hymn that’s an elegy of all that is happened.

For the complete article, check out PasteMagazine.Com