Kacey Musgraves laid on the innuendo for a tongue-in-cheek performance of ‘Dry Spell’ at the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards – check it out below.
- READ MORE: Kacey Musgraves – ‘Middle Of Nowhere’ review: a country heroine’s journey back to her roots
The country star made her onstage debut at the 61st edition of the awards on Sunday night (May 17), having already been a seven-time winner.
Fans at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena were treated to a performance that nodded to the track’s playful lyrics: “I’m so lonely, lonely with a capital “H” / If you know what I mean, I’ve been sitting on the washing machine.”
Having opened with Musgraves sitting atop a washing machine before picking up some sausages at the butcher’s counter of a grocery store, even the signs on display were intentionally placed, with aisle 69 replete with cream, juice, melons, and bananas on sale, as well as eggplants and cucumbers.
The performance follows the release of Musgraves’ seventh studio album, ‘Middle of Nowhere’. The record was given a three-and-a-half star review from NME, and praised as one of the country star’s “most thematically cohesive records”.
Kacey Musgraves performing “Dry Spell” at the #ACMawards. pic.twitter.com/GkXhE8aX36
— Kacey Musgraves Access (@KaceyAccess) May 18, 2026
Kacey Musgraves sings “Dry Spell” on top of a washing machine at the #ACMawards. pic.twitter.com/s1KZJMLijY
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) May 18, 2026
“As its title evokes, ‘Middle Of Nowhere’ flows with a sense of isolation, its unembellished lyrics and sparser sound creating a real feeling of standing alone in the desert. A resolute sense of solitude is the album’s central theme: not quite loneliness but a choiceful, empowered singledom,” it read.
“It isn’t flawless: a few tracks blur together in the middle stretch, and some lyrical moments fall flat. But the integrity and conviction behind the creative statement more than compensate,” it added.
“At a time of maximalism and hyperactivity in music, this grounded, assured commitment to songs that sway rather than stomp feels quietly radical. Though it’s called ‘The Middle of Nowhere’, you get the sense that Musgraves is right where she wants to be.”
Before the record dropped, Musgraves debuted some of the songs during her surprise Coachella 2026 set, which marked her first appearance at the festival since 2019.
She also went undercover as giant armadillo to search for the new record in a grocery store, to little avail.