Pageant Material is the second studio album by American country music artist Kacey Musgraves, released June 23, 2015, through Mercury Nashville.
Recording
Most of
Pageant Material was recorded live in Nashville's historic RCA Studio A. In an interview with
The Boot published May 21, 2015, Musgraves describes the recording process: "We recorded most everything in a big circle in one of my favorite old studios on the planet – historic RCA Studio A in Nashville. That lent itself to the record having that concise feel that we wanted. Then we added a 10-piece string section later."
Promotion and packaging
Promotional appearances in the media to support the album included performances on
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (June 9, 2015),
Late Night with Seth Meyers (June 10, 2015),
Good Morning America (June 23, 2015),
The View (June 24, 2015), Jimmy Kimmel Live! (September 14, 2015),
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (January 8, 2016) and
The Late Late Show with James Corden (April 6, 2016).
On June 26, 2015, Musgraves performed "Follow Your Arrow" for
NPR's
Tiny Desk Concerts in support of the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States, which took place on the same day.
To further support the album, Musgraves embarked on the Kacey Musgraves Country & Western Rhinestone Revue concert tour. Described as a "throwback country" tour, dates on the first leg included locations across the United States and Europe. The first leg of the tour began on August 27, 2015, in Atlanta, and concluded on November 22, 2015, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The second leg of the tour, which spanned portions of the US, UK and Ireland began in Dallas on January 21, 2016, and concluded in Columbia, MO, on April 30, 2016.
Musgraves' younger sister, Kelly Christine Sutton, is credited with the album cover's photograph and design.
Critical reception
Pageant Material received positive reviews from
music journalism. At
Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 78 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 25 reviews.
Writing for Hits Daily Double, Lenny Beer and Simon Glickman called Pageant Material an "album for the ages," comparing its greatness to Adele's 21, and added, "it's a nearly perfect set."
Accolades
|
| 2015 | CMA Awards | Album of the Year | |
| 2016 | Grammy Awards | Best Country Album | rowspan="2" |
UK Americana Awards | International Album of the Year |
|
| AllMusic | N/A | Best Country Albums of 2015 |
| American Songwriter | 16 | Top 50 Albums of 2015 |
| Americana Music Association | 7 | Top 100 Albums of 2015 |
| Cosmopolitan | 11 | The 15 Best Albums of 2015 |
| Glamour | N/A | The Best Albums of 2015 |
| The Guardian | 1 | The 10 Best Country Albums of 2015 |
| Nashville Scene | 4 | Best Country Albums of 2015 |
| Noisey | 50 | The 50 Best Albums of 2015 |
| NPR | N/A | 50 Favorite Albums of 2015 |
| Paste | 27 | The 50 Best Albums of 2015 |
| PopMatters | 12 | The 80 Best Albums of 2015 |
| 3 | The Best Country Music of 2015 |
| Pretty Much Amazing | 46 | Best 50 Albums of 2015 |
| Rolling Stone | 14 | 40 Best Country Albums of 2015 |
| Spin | 8 | The 50 Best Albums of 2015 |
| Sputnikmusic | 45 | Top 50 Albums of 2015 |
| Time | 6 | Top 10 Best Albums of 2015 |
| Time Out New York | 15 | The 25 Best Albums of 2015 |
| Variance | 18 | The 50 Best Albums of 2015 |
Commercial performance
Pageant Material debuted at number three on the US
Billboard 200 chart with 60,000 equivalent album units; it sold 55,000 copies in its first week, with the remainder of its unit total reflecting the album's
Streaming media activity and
Music download sales. It marked Musgraves' best week of album sales to date.
As of September 2016, the album has sold 179,400 copies in the US.
Track listing
All tracks are produced by
Luke Laird,
Shane McAnally, and
Kacey Musgraves.
Notes
-
"Are You Sure" is a part of track 13 on CD pressings of the album (giving track 13 a length of 7:50), but a separate track on all other digital platforms. On all versions of the album, "Fine" ends at 3:37 and is followed by 18 seconds of silence.
Personnel
Credits adapted from
AllMusic and liner notes.
Musicians
-
David Angell – violin
-
Monisa Angell – viola
-
Misa Arriaga – acoustic guitar, baritone guitar, classical guitar, shaker, backing vocalist
-
Zeneba Bowers – violin
-
Zach Casebolt – violin
-
David Davidson – violin
-
The Wallflowers – bells, drums, percussion, shaker, tambourine, biscuit pan
-
Ian Fitchuk – bells, Hammond organ, harp, Mellotron, piano, Wurlitzer electric piano
-
Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar
-
Natalie Hemby – background vocals
-
Adam Keafer – bass, double bass
-
Anthony La Marchina – cello
-
Luke Laird – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, gut string guitar, tambourine, background vocals
-
Shane McAnally – background vocals
-
Kacey Musgraves – acoustic guitar, vocals, whistling
-
Willie Nelson – background vocals, "Trigger"
-
Josh Osborne – acoustic guitar, vocals
-
Kyle Ryan – banjo, electric guitar, vocals, spoon
-
Lindsay Smith-Trostle – cello
-
Wei Tsun Chang – violin
-
Katelyn Westergard – violin
-
Kristin Wilkinson – viola
-
Karen Winkelmann – violin
-
Charlie Worsham – banjo, acoustic guitar, guitalele
-
Misa Arriaga – gang vocals on "Biscuits"
-
Luke Laird – gang vocals on "Biscuits"
-
Shane McAnally – gang vocals on "Biscuits"
-
Kyle Ryan – gang vocals on "Biscuits"
Technical
-
Ryan Gore – audio engineer, mixing
-
Kelsey Granda – production coordination
-
Gena Johnson – assistant engineer
-
Luke Laird – producer, programming
-
Jordan Lehning – conductor, string section
-
Shane McAnally – producer
-
Andrew Mendelson – audio mastering
-
Kacey Musgraves – producer
-
Karen Naff – design
-
Jarod Snowden – editing
-
Kelly Christine Sutton – art director, design, photography
-
Stephanie Wright – A&R
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
