Pageant Material

Most of Pageant Material was recorded live in Nashville's historic RCA Studio A.^[1] In an interview with The Boot published May 21, 2015, Musgraves described the recording process: "We recorded most everything in a big circle in one of my favorite old studios on the planet – historic RCA Studio A in Nashville. That lent itself to the record having that concise feel that we wanted. Then we added a 10-piece string section later."^[2] Musgraves co-wrote every track in the album, producing them with Luke Laird and Shane McAnally.^[3][4] Musgraves' younger sister, Kelly Christine Sutton, is credited with the album cover's photograph and design.^[5]

Pageant Material was announced on May 12, 2015.^[6][7] Promotional appearances in the media to support the album included several performances, such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (June 9)^[8] and Late Night with Seth Meyers (June 10).^[9] The album was released on June 23, and she performed in Good Morning America^[10] that day to celebrate its release.^[11][12] A day later, she performed at The View^[13] and performed more live performances in Jimmy Kimmel Live! (September 14),^[14] CMA Awards (November 5),^[15] The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (January 8, 2016)^[16] and The Late Late Show with James Corden (April 6).^[17] On June 26, 2015, Musgraves performed "Follow Your Arrow" for National Public Radio's Tiny Desk Concerts in support of the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States, which took place on the same day.^[18]

To further support the album, Musgraves embarked on the Kacey Musgraves Country & Western Rhinestone Revue concert tour.^[19][20] Dates on the first leg included locations across the United State and Europe; the first leg of the tour began on August 27, 2015, in Atlanta, Georgia, and concluded on November 22, 2015, in Amsterdam, Netherlands.^[21] The band Sugar & The Hi-Lows was the opening act of the tour.^[22] The second leg of the tour, which spanned portions of the US, UK and Ireland, began in Dallas, TX on January 21, 2016,^[23][24] and concluded in Columbia, MO, on April 30, 2016.^[25] Reviewing the show, Kelli Skye Fadroski of Orange County Register praised Musgraves for delivering a strong performance built around selections from Same Trailer Different Park and Pageant Material, highlighting her sharp songwriting and storytelling. The setlist also included several covers, such as "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley and "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley.^[26]

More information Aggregate scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.3/10[27]
Metacritic	78/100[28]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[29]
The A.V. Club	B+[30]
Billboard	[31]
The Daily Telegraph	[32]
The Guardian	[33]
The Irish Times	[34]
Nash Country Weekly	A[35]
Pitchfork	8.0/10[36]
Rolling Stone	[37]
Spin	9/10[38]

Close

Pageant Material received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 78 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 25 reviews.^[28]

Writing for Hits Daily Double, Lenny Beer and Simon Glickman called Pageant Material an "album for the ages," comparing its greatness to Adele's 21, and added, "it's a nearly perfect set."^[39] Glamour's Alexandra Schwartz called the album "nearly flawless" and listed it among the best albums of 2015.^[40] Paul Grein of Hits Daily Double predicted the album would be in contention for Album of the Year at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.^[41] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated the album four out of five stars and states: "Pageant Material favors softness, sometimes nearly swooning in its slowness, especially on the gorgeous keynote "High Time" and the closer "Fine," both so deliberate and hazy they evoke memories of lazy high-school dances."^[29] Billboard's Rob Tannenbaum's four and a half stars out of five review claimed it is "an even better album than her last, with more consistency and variety."^[31] Glenn Gamboa of Newsday rated the album an "A", calling it "great stories told extraordinarily well," and "nothing short of a musical miracle" in today's country music climate.^[42] Additionally, it was the Spin "album of the week" and called a "sophomore masterpiece" by reviewer Brennan Carley.^[38]

Pageant Material debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart with 60,000 equivalent album units; it sold 55,000 copies in its first week, with the remainder of its unit total reflecting the album's streaming activity and track sales. It marked Musgraves' best week of album sales to date.^[64] As of September 2016, the album has sold 179,400 copies in the US.^[65]

All tracks are produced by Luke Laird, Shane McAnally, and Kacey Musgraves.

Notes

• "Are You Sure" is a part of track 13 on CD pressings of the album (giving track 13 a length of 7:50), but a separate track on all other digital platforms. On all versions of the album, "Fine" ends at 3:37 and is followed by 18 seconds of silence.

Credits were adapted from AllMusic^[66] and liner notes.^[67]