Sophia Michaels
It’s safe to say that Kacey Musgraves won’t be playing any campaign events for Ted Cruz in this or any other lifetime. The country singer-songwriter, a native of Golden, Texas, offered a sharp rebuke of the Texas senator during her performance at Austin City Limits Music Festival on Sunday night.
Musgraves was performing the song “High Horse,” a playfully witty takedown of a jerk who always spoils the party in various ways, off her Grammy-winning Album of the Year Golden Hour.
In video from ACL Fest attendee (and occasional RS scribe) Cat Cardenas, Musgraves makes a change to the first verse: “’Cause everyone knows someone who kills the buzz every time they open up their mouth,” she sings, then adds a punctuated “Ted Cruz!” The crowd roars in approval and Musgraves adds, “I said what I said.” Fellow ACL performers the Chicks also poked fun at Cruz during their set, and then endorsed Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke during a show later that weekend.
Musgraves previously had some fun at Cruz’s expense in early 2021, after the senator decided to travel to Cancun while Texas was grappling with an ice-and-snow-related energy crisis. Playing off his name, Musgraves produced shirts that read “Cruzin’ for a Bruzin” and sold them in her merchandise store. She donated the proceeds to organizations providing aid during the crisis.
Currently, Musgraves has only one date on the calendar for fall: her second appearance at ACL Fest on Oct. 16.
