Kacey Musgraves Sings Entirely in Spanish on New Version of “Uncertain, TX” With Intocable

The new version of “Uncertain, TX” is not a translated bonus track. Kacey Musgraves has re-recorded the song with Intocable, the Texan norteño group, and sings the whole of it in Spanish, harmonizing with lead singer Ricky Javier Muñoz. It is the first time she has recorded an entire song in the language.

The collaborator matters as much as the translation. Intocable have been shaping Mexican popular music since the early Nineties, and their reach is not a matter of nostalgia. Last month the sextet played to a crowd of 300,000 at El Zócalo Capitalino in Mexico City for Mexican Independence Day.

For Musgraves, the move extends a line already running through her recent work. “Uncertain, TX” appears on her latest album, Middle of Nowhere, where it carried cumbia rhythms inside a country frame, and it reached No. 1 at Texas Radio. She has recorded with música mexicana artists before, including the bilingual “Lost in Translation” with Carin León, and has described her interest in the places where country meets norteño and the regional Mexican sounds she heard growing up in Texas.

In a statement, she put the duet in the same terms: “Having a song with the legends of Intocable is such a thrill for me. As a Texan, I am proud of the cultural melting pot that makes our state so great and this collaboration is such a fun example of that.” The release lands while she is touring Middle of Nowhere through her home state, with five shows in Houston, Dallas, and Austin.