Kacey Musgraves, Country Music Chameleon

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Kacey Musgraves’s new album, “Star-Crossed,” documents the collapse of the marriage she celebrated on her last album, the Grammy-winning “Golden Hour.” It’s an LP that calls back to her earliest, more modest-scaled work — the embodiment of post-exuberance.

Throughout her career, Musgraves has been embraced as a country music radical, but that’s not exactly true. She’s someone well versed in tradition who also understands that over the decades, plenty of alleged outsiders made crucial contributions to the genre. As a result, she’s far less preoccupied with the terminology than anyone trying to apply it to her.

On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about Musgraves’s career, her easy way with songwriting, and what might come next after you’ve documented your life’s highs and lows in song.

Guests:

• Amanda Hess, a critic at large at The New York Times

• Laura Snapes, deputy music editor at The Guardian

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