Kacey Musgraves has always stood by her beliefs, even if they cost her. The Texan had already had moderate success at radio when she released "Follow Your Arrow" in 2013. The song is from her freshman Same Trailer Different Park record, written as a feel-good anthem.
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But with lines like "So, make lots of noise / Kiss lots of boys / Or kiss lots of girls, if that's something you're into / When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight / Roll up a joint, or don't / Just follow your arrow wherever it points," it was just controversial enough, at the time, that country radio refused to play it.
"It was so controversial," Musgraves recalls to The Hollywood Reporter, adding that she was told not to release "Follow Your Arrow." "I was nervous, because Luke Lewis had left, Lost Highway had folded, and I was already halfway through making my first real creative statement to the world. I was just scared [Mercury Nashville] wouldn't accept what I was already putting my heart into. 'Arrow' was the last song I turned in for that record."
Musgraves wasn't surprised that "Follow Your Arrow" didn't do well at radio. She just didn't care enough to change the lyrics to appease conservative radio.
"It ended up tanking," Musgraves remembers. "It was banned by country radio. But I would never trade that for the love and the people it brought to my world. I'm not going to present a watered-down version of myself to be accepted. I'll f-ing shovel sh-- for a living at a horse barn, and I'll be really happy. Or I'll just be a songwriter. Anyway, it ended up working out."
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Musgraves became the last artist signed to Lost Highway before the record label folded. She is now back on the same label, as the first artist signed to the label after its relaunch.
"Lost Highway was always a musical stable for artists who might be considered outliers or outlaws; those who live on the fringe," Musgraves says. "In 2011, when other record labels questioned my songwriting and my more traditional country sound, Lost Highway believed in me, signing me to my first label deal, and helped me take my music around the world ... I'm deeply honored to be able to once again call Lost Highway my musical home."
