There are cover songs that feel like exercises, and there are cover songs that feel like discoveries. Kacey Musgraves’ take on SZA’s “Kill Bill,” performed this week on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge, falls firmly into the second category. Stripping the track back with an acoustic guitar, pedal steel, and piano in place of the original’s eerie flute, Musgraves found something in the song that was already there. The heartbreak at the centre of it landed even harder.
The timing couldn’t be better calibrated. Musgraves is in full promotional mode ahead of the May 1 release of ‘Middle of Nowhere’, her seventh studio album, and the Live Lounge appearance was part of a whirlwind London run that included two shows at the intimate Circuit venue. She also performed “Dry Spell,” the album’s lead single, which she had just debuted live at a surprise Coachella set on April 18, her first appearance at the festival in seven years. By all accounts, that Coachella moment was something special, with Musgraves arriving on horseback and debuting several new tracks including “Uncertain, TX,” “Back on the Wagon,” and the album’s title track.
What makes the “Kill Bill” cover particularly interesting is its history. Musgraves first performed it alongside Nickel Creek at Boston’s TD Garden back in September 2024, and it became a fixture of her live sets throughout the rest of that year and into 2025. This wasn’t a one-off experiment. It was a song she clearly connected with and took the time to make her own. The Live Lounge version is the fullest realization of that yet.
‘Middle of Nowhere’ arrives with serious company. The album features contributions from Miranda Lambert, Willie Nelson, Billy Strings, and Gregory Alan Isakov, a lineup that signals Musgraves is planting her flag firmly in the roots world while keeping the door wide open, as she always has. This follows ‘Deeper Well’, which earned her a Grammy for Best Country Song at the 2025 awards. The bar is set high, and everything about this promotional run suggests she knows exactly what she’s doing.
The Live Lounge has a way of revealing where an artist really lives musically, and Musgraves’ performance this week confirmed what her best work has always suggested. She’s one of the most instinctive interpreters in the business, whether the song is hers or someone else’s. May 1 can’t come soon enough.