The “Deeper Well” singer shared the story behind her collaboration with Nelson on Instagram to celebrate the nine year anniversary of her second studio album ‘Pageant Material’
Kacey Musgraves celebrated the nine year anniversary of her second studio album Pageant Material in an Instagram post on Monday, June 24 and opened up about her close relationship with country legend Willie Nelson.
The “Butterflies” singer, 35, reminisced about the first time she smoked weed with Nelson, 91, and how it led to her cover of his song “Are You Sure” with him on her album. Musgraves recalled enjoying a bit of marijuana with Nelson in 2014 while she was on tour opening for him and singer Alison Krauss.
“He had us up on his bus for some coffee and smoke before he started his set,” Musgraves wrote in her caption. “We talked about all sorts of things… our light-up western suits, conspiracy theories, aliens, his early job of cutting down trees in East Texas, the history of hemp growth in the United States, and old songs.”
Musgraves then said she asked the “On the Road Again” singer whether he ever sang “Are You Sure” while on tour.
“He exhaled a big puff and blinked and said, ‘Are you sure this is where you wanna be?’ looking surprised I knew such a deep cut,” Musgraves said. “[He] then pulled his guitar from seemingly out of nowhere.”
“I was officially on another planet at this point, barely able to grasp reality and form words,” she continued. “But I managed to squeak out a ‘yes’ [and] he started strumming.”
Musgraves then shared that they sang the song together and Nelson told her he would record the song with her. “Next thing I know we’re in Austin and filming the video,” she said, sharing photos of her and Nelson from the music video.
“He’s wearing a western suit I picked out and humoring me with a tequila shot,” she continued. “It’s a good thing there is visual record of this moment in my life—otherwise I’d think it was just some hazy, sparkly, pipe dream that never actually happened.”
In an interview with The Cut for her sixth studio album Deeper Well back in March 2024, the “Blowin’ Smoke” singer revealed that she stopped smoking weed and called it “early-20s Kacey behavior.”
“It’s not for this chapter,” Musgraves said. “Maybe later, when I’m a 60-year-old lady with nothing to do and I’m just doing pottery all day, maybe. We’ll see.”
