Kacey Musgraves Shares Memories Of John Prine On ‘Colbert’

Kacey Musgraves returned to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Monday for her first of two consecutive appearances on the show. Musgraves spoke with host Stephen Colbert about her 2024 album, Deeper Well, her relationship with the late John Prine and more.

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter started to talk about John Prine by discussing “Cardinal,” a song featured on Deeper Well. Kacey Musgraves called Prine “a magician with words,” a mentor and dear friend. She revealed after his 2020 death a cardinal would come visit Musgraves nearly every day. “It struck me as a song idea and there were some other things around the time that he passed, [where] it felt like something was speaking to me.”

Stephen Colbert then asked Musgraves what it was like to get to know and perform with John Prine. “It was really special. His whole family was super welcoming,” Kacey said. “He was exactly what you would think he would be. Super funny, always telling stories.”

Kacey Musgraves told a story of asking John Prine to share a joint with her. “I did smoke a lot of weed back then, so it was kinda high on the totem pole,” she said. Prine turned her down as he had throat cancer. Musgraves wrote the song “Burn One John Prine” early in her career. John Prine heard the song before his death.

Other topics Musgraves discussed was how she comes up with song titles, her formative years as a performer and the first song she ever wrote. Stephen Colbert aired footage of a young Kacey competing at a sweet potato festival, where she tried out for the Miss Tater Tot pageant. Kacey Musgraves is back on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert with a performance tonight.

Watch Kacey Musgraves’ appearance on last night’s Colbert below: