Kacey Musgraves Brings Her Own Perspective to George Strait Cover During Coachella Return

Kacey Musgraves made her long-awaited return to Coachella over the weekend, and she didn’t just stick to her own catalog, she also covered a classic from George Strait’s repertoire.

During her set, the GRAMMY-winning star dove into “All My Ex’s Live in Texas,” reworking a few of the lines to reflect her own story while keeping the familiar chorus intact. Her rendition made it clear that she has more in common with Strait than just their shared home state.

Introducing the moment to the crowd, she earned a roar of cheers as she revealed that she’d put her own twist on the beloved track.

“You guys all know George Strait’s version of this song?” Musgraves told the crowd inside the festival’s Mojave tent. “Well, I rewrote the verses from my perspective, so here we go.”

With her cowboy hat sitting proudly on her head, the songstress prompted a sing along with the original lyrics set to the twangy instrumentals. She sang, “All my exes live in Texas/ And Texas is a place I’d dearly love to be/ But all my exes live in Texas/ And that’s why I hang my hat in Tennessee.”

Once the first verse approached, fans got a bit of insight into her own experience with ex lovers in the Lone Star State.

“Okay, listen / Stephen down in Stephenville / Drank too much patron / Richard down in Richardson / Won’t pick up the phone,” she sang. “Cody in Midlothian / Now, he’s doing time / Sometimes you’ve gotta learn to love it / Or leave it all behind.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kacey Musgraves Access (@kaceyaccess)

After name dropping some past love interests tied to different Texas towns, she went on to add an even more playful, slightly unfiltered edge while recounting a handful of messy, memorable run-ins and relationships that didn’t quite work out in the long run.

“I left my shirt in Forth Worth / With some old college fling / That Houston guy had the bluest eyes / But I forgot his name,” she sang. “Some a–hole down in El Paso / He left my heart all broke,” Musgraves sang before earning an audible reaction from fans with the line, “Everything’s bigger down there / So I’m sad that I can’t go.”

Musgraves concluded her rendition of the country classic by noting that while “no one there will marry me,” she knows that Texas is the place where she will be buried some day. Until then, she can confirm she is “alive and well in Tennessee.”

Her performance on Saturday, April 18 marked the first time the “Golden Hour” singer has taken the stage at Coachella in seven years. In addition to Strait’s 1987 hit, the set also featured a few tracks from her upcoming studio album Middle of Nowhere, including “Dry Spell,” “Back on the Wagon,” “Uncertain, TX” and the title track.

The album, set to drop May 1, was written in the wake of a breakup which resulted in a collection of songs rooted in Kacey Musgraves’ reflective storytelling. She blends tradition with a modern, genre-blurring sound and even tapped several notable country music names to appear on collaborations, such as Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert, Billy Strings, and Gregory Alan Isakov.

Kacey Musgraves’ next performance will take place at the 61st Academy of Country Music Awards (ACMs). The show will air live on Prime Video Sunday, May 17, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT / 5 p.m. PT.