Texas Music News — October 13, 2026
Kacey Musgraves slipped into Austin’s White Horse on Oct. 8 and played a surprise midnight set for the two-steppers. The Golden, Texas, native had just wrapped a night of her Moody Center run. Then she wanted a dance floor instead of an arena. She got one, and the crowd loved it.
Word spread fast, so a line wrapped the block by showtime. The door ran one in, one out, and regulars who came to dance ended up pushed against the walls. Meanwhile, Sweet Megg, Bovine and Sentimental Family Band gave up their own set time to make room.
She Came for the Two-Step
But Musgraves skipped her new material and reached for old-school covers. She played “Luckenbach, Texas,” “Walking After Midnight,” “Hey, Good Lookin'” and “I’ve Been Everywhere.” Then she kept asking the crowd to dance. Bovine’s Nick Fichter said the night “really felt like an ode to her relationship with the dance halls.”
That makes sense, because she cut her teeth on the East Texas Opry circuit, where she first met Miranda Lambert. Now her album Middle of Nowhere sends her through arenas, but she still misses the dance halls. Trading that for a sawdust-floor honky-tonk is like a marathoner kicking off her shoes to walk barefoot on the lawn. Still, the best set of her week happened after midnight, and it came with no arena lights. Details at Saving Country Music.
More Texas Music News
Fort Worth’s Bencjones signs with Idol Records. After years of work, the producer and singer released his three-song EP Love Got in the Way on the North Texas indie label. The deal started when KXT’s program director nudged him toward Idol. Details at KXT 91.7.
ACL Fest Weekend 2 traded mud for dust. Tens of thousands packed Zilker Park for Charli xcx, Turnstile, Kings of Leon and Sienna Spiro, and the dust replaced the rain. Meanwhile, city officials promised to restore the park fully. Details at KUT.
Kaitlin Butts readies her major-label debut. Hello, Honky Tonk arrives Oct. 30 on Republic Records, and then a six-date album-release tour follows. Details at That Eric Alper.