The Tamesis
It’s been more than a decade since Kacey Musgraves first took the stage at Gruene Hall, a historic Central Texas venue, where she concluded a three-night residency on Tuesday to celebrate the release of her latest album. remote place.
As early as 2014, Musgraves was already rising to prominence. She had a critically acclaimed debut album for which she won multiple Grammy Awards. But she was still three years away from a career breakthrough prime time And the arena tours, red carpet appearances and mainstream country stardom that come with it.
Gruen Hall is not a glamorous venue. It’s a low, white clapboard ballroom built in 1878 in New Braunfels with a pitched tin roof, wire mesh windows and no air conditioning in a state where temperatures can climb into the 90s by the end of April. But it’s an iconic place—the place where George Strait found his voice; where artists like Nanci Griffith, Robert Earl Keen, Miranda Lambert, and Lyle Lovett came to prominence. This is where country stars are born, and where they return once the rest of the world notices their shine.
so it makes sense remote placeThe album is largely a love letter to Musgraves’ roots, and the singer will return to Gruen Hall. But this time, she won’t be performing alone. She was joined by The Mariachi Brothers, a family group from McAllen, a city nearly 260 miles south of New Braunfels on the Texas-Mexico border.
Just two months ago, three brothers – Antonio Gamez-Cuellar, 18, Caleb Gamez-Cuellar, 15, and Joshua Gamez-Cuellar, 12 – were arrested along with their parents by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in nearby Edinburg. The family had been undergoing asylum proceedings since 2023, and their detention made national headlines and sparked public outrage, leading to their release after two weeks. Soon after, Musgraves invited them to join her in New Braunfels.
In Texas, Mexican culture is woven into the fabric of the state’s identity—from our name to our music, our food, and our history. But you don’t necessarily know to listen to most of the country music that comes out of Texas. At its core, country music is a quintessentially American music genre. It’s about nostalgia and (whitewashed) cowboys rather than cowboys, glossing over the country’s cardinal sins and the contributions of blacks, Mexicans, and Native Americans to this country.
