Grammy Award-winning country singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves writes about her life and the lessons she’s learned along the way in her latest album.“A Deeper Well” This may be her most spiritual work to date. Deeper Well explores intelligent design, the afterlife, peace, and eternity. This is not worship music, but rather songs about theological concepts for a secular audience. Musgraves doesn’t have confidence or faith in these ideas, but they still fascinate her. In her lack of faith, she honestly explores her desire to know a Creator she is not even sure exists. It is a feeling that people of faith know but never express.
Musgraves’ opening song, “Cardinal,” asks whether a bright red bird is a message from beyond the grave. She sings that this bird appeared right after she suddenly lost her friend. This is a common belief among American Christians. It is believed that the scarlet bird represents the blood of Christ and therefore a message from heaven. 70’s style strings evoke a sense of mystery. she sings: “Are you just looking at spring and waiting? / Is there anything that will bring the magic?” This uncertainty sets the tone for the entire album. Musgraves has one foot in her spiritual world and one foot outside of her, unsure if she can trust her own instincts.
In the album’s title track, Musgraves sings about shunning dark energy, giving up drugs, and seeking a “deeper well.” She wants to move away from her burnout and paralysis and connect with what matters most to her. She dives into these depths in “Dinner with Friends.” This song mourns the joys of this world that we will lose when we die. A soft, melancholy piano accompanies “What I’ll Miss From the Other Side.” “Intimate conversations that last into the night/The way the sun hits the floor and creates light patterns.” Even though she believes in the promise of heaven, the thought of losing these simple pleasures is painful. This is not selfish or sinful, but rather joy for earthly pleasures. Life includes not only pain and sadness, but also the emotions you feel when you look at something you have created. It is joy, warmth, peace and love. Life is a gift and something to be cherished for a short time.
In “Heaven Is,” Musgraves expresses doubts about the existence of heaven, but once again takes solace in the heaven he finds here on earth. His last line negotiates, “If all I had was the light in your eyes/That’s heaven.” “Nature is God to me,” Musgraves said in an interview with NPR. That theology is most evident in “The Heart of the Woods,” a warm acoustic campfire song about communication in the network of roots between trees. It’s a wonderful feeling that we are all interconnected and dependent on each other. We can lean into this sense of trust and peace.
“Sway” looks to nature to model surrender to these bonds of interdependence. “Maybe someday I’ll learn how to swing/Like a palm tree in the wind, I won’t break/I’ll just bend.” This song reflects Matthew’s wisdom. “Learn from the way wildflowers grow. They do not move, they do not spin. But I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like them.” Musgraves longs to relinquish control and live in this state of trust and acceptance. She told NPR: God, nature, the universe, the flow of life, the universe, anything else. As one door closes, another will make sense. I’m just trying to believe that through relationships ending, things changing, aging, watching my parents age, and everything else. ”
“The Architect” is the most overtly religious song on the album. But here too Musgraves keeps God at arm’s length. Calling him an “architect” does not imply any expectation or association with formal religion. It may be a sign of maturity for her to admit that she doesn’t have all the answers, but this uncertainty is also complacency and a sign of what a true commitment to her faith will do for her life. That might be a way to get around what you mean. You don’t have to go to church every Sunday to marvel at apples and trees. This inquiry does not require compliance with any statute.
“Jade Green” has a witchy Fleetwood Mac feel to it, as she sings: “I want to bask in the moonlight/
Until I am fully charged/Unleash my power/And heal the broken parts. ” This new age of spirituality is very appealing. Crystals and astrology can give you power and understanding without changing your behavior. However, this grasp of power and control cannot help her in her attempts to “sway” with the flow of her life. In “Jade Green,” she also admits to saying “a little prayer to drive away the darkness.”
Musgraves avidly seeks something greater, but this unanchored spirituality always clings to whatever it finds. She is looking into something sacred, but she cannot grasp it. She is trying to find her meaning from the confusing reality of her own life experience. The songs oscillate between sin and grace, trust and anxiety, understanding and confusion, love and loneliness.
Even if you can’t recognize sin, it won’t prevent it from attacking you. On “Too Good To Be True,” she sings about the insecurities of being in an intimate relationship without commitment. She feels like she is in her dreams, but in the past she is haunted by her fear that she will be hurt by her partner in the same way that she was hurt . She sings, “Don’t make me regret it/Be open to that part of me.” Her last line is, “We made breakfast and we made love/If this is what dreams are made of/Please don’t wake me up.” she begs.
On “Giver/Taker,” she sings about her need for inclusive love, but worries that her partner won’t want to give it to her. “Honey, all your love, not just one/I hope I don’t ask too much.” Although she is clear about her needs and what she wants to do to meet them , still remains unfulfilled. You can take as much as you need/take all that you have. ” She gets stuck in a pattern of her insecurities and regrets and settles for someone who doesn’t give her enough love that she desperately needs.
Musgraves closes the album with “Nothing to Be Scared Of,” a lullaby from God to her, from her to us, from her to a lover, or from her to herself. It’s a hopeful and resolute ending. “The devil in your mirror, let’s run away together,” she sings. This is a song of radical acceptance and connection. “Come to me and unpack/And I’ll help you unpack.” She was finally able to let go of her fears and trust her fate. “I’ve made a list of all the things I’ve been busy chasing/But if the train is meant for me/It doesn’t leave the station and take off.” It’s about hope for what the future will bring. It is the light of promise, of trust, of victory at the end of the tunnel.
For Musgraves, digging deeper into one’s well is a search for the eternal and spiritual, a pull toward something greater without labels or definitions. She finds beauty and power in spirituality outside of her faith, but her longing for it inadvertently touches on deeper theology.
St. Augustine of Hippo wrote in his book: confession That God created and formed us, and that “our hearts are restless until they are at rest in you.” Many people who seek eternity find beauty in spirituality other than faith, primarily due to religious alienation or trauma. Everyone chooses their own relationship with God, but too often human actions and attitudes get in the way.
Deeper Well encourages rekindling and invites you on a spiritual journey to live your life on your terms. We hope these songs encourage listeners to keep asking questions and spread seeds of spiritual peace and enlightenment. And hopefully Musgraves will continue to dip his toes into even deeper wells.
