We're not "Blowin' Smoke." Kacey Musgraves is coming back to Austin.
Kacey Musgraves/Facebook
Kacey Musgraves may have left Austin for the honkier honky-tonks of Nashville, but the Capital City still likes to claim her as our own. The Golden, Texas-born Musgraves moved to Austin in 2006 after high school, but it wasn't until she moved to the land of the Grand Ole Opry that the singer-songwriter hit the big time.
And what a big time it's been. The country darling has had an unprecedented first half of 2018, including a smash hit album, Golden Hour; the March cover of Texas Monthly; a guest spot on Saturday Night Live; and a June taping of Austin City Limits. Musgraves is planning an equally ambitious second half of the year with her worldwide Oh, What a World Tour, which includes dates in Japan, Europe, and Canada.
On July 16, the musician announced dates for the tour's North American leg, which runs January through April 2019. Luckily, Austin's getting two dates: March 9 and 10 at Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater. Musgraves' only other Texas show will be in Dallas on March 8 at the Bomb Factory. Sinclair is slated as the opening act in both cities.
Musgraves' Austin dates coincide with the beginning of SXSW 2019 and are followed by a 10-day break in her tour. While no official SX performance has been announced (and likely won't be for a while), fans can do with that information what they will.
Tickets are currently on sale now through a special artist pre-order and will go on sale to the public on July 20 at 10 am.
Maika Monroe and Tyriq Withers in Reminders of HIm.
Texas author Colleen Hoover has gone from being a popular writer to a full-on celebrity in the 2020s, with the new film Reminders of Him marking the third adaptation of her books in just 19 months (a fourth, Verity, is scheduled for release in October 2026). All of her books that have been adapted so far — most notably It Ends With Us — are female-led stories that feature elements of romance and trauma, catnip for studios looking to appeal to the underserved demographic of women.
Leading the way in this film is Kenna Rowan (Maika Monroe), who returns to her hometown of Laramie, Wyoming after spending years in prison for killing her boyfriend, Scotty (Rudy Pankow), in a car accident. That relationship resulted in a daughter, Diem (Zoe Kosovic), whom Kenna gave birth to while imprisoned and is now being raised by her grandparents, Patrick (Bradley Whitford) and Grace (Lauren Graham).
Yearning to be a part of Diem’s life, Kenna tries to reconnect with Patrick and Grace, only to be rebuffed by Scotty’s best friend, Ledger (Tyriq Withers), a former NFL player who now owns a local bar. In running interference, Ledger starts to become closer to Kenna, discovering that her tragic mistake shouldn’t be the only thing that defines her.
Directed by Vanessa Caswill and written by Lauren Levine, the film features mostly surface level examinations of its themes and average performances, yet it winds up being effective thanks to a willingness not to rush through its storytelling beats. The filmmakers take the slow and steady approach toward the coupling of Kenna and Ledger, setting up their bond through a series of heart-to-heart conversations that makes any romance feel earned.
The majority of the focus is on Kenna reclaiming her place in the world, and on Ledger coming to terms with the fact that the person who killed his best friend is not inherently a bad person. The film definitely could have gone deeper in its explorations of grief and anger, but the sheer amount of time it takes in addressing the characters’ doubts and fears turns out to be sufficient for a film that’s not aiming to be considered a dramatic masterpiece.
It also helps that Caswill and Levine do a solid job of establishing the variety of characters that inhabit the film. Kenna and Ledger don’t always feel like fully-formed people, but they become so through their interactions with each other and the other townspeople. Lady Diana (Monika Myers), a girl with Down syndrome who lives in Kenna’s apartment complex, and Roman (Nicholas Duvernay), Ledger’s co-worker at his bar, help to broaden the appeal of the two leads.
Monroe has, to this point, been best known for starring roles in horror films like It Follows and Longlegs. While she does somewhat well in this role, her delivery is often more flat than you’d expect for a character going through what she does. Withers thankfully doesn’t remind viewers of his recent bomb Him, demonstrating a crossover appeal that should serve him well in the future. Whitford and Graham don’t get to do much, but their combined experience gives their roles exactly what is needed.
It may sound like damning with faint praise, but Reminders of Him is a competently made film that knows how to serve its core audience without insulting anyone who may not automatically be all-in for such a story. The filmmakers don’t try to force any of the key moments down the audience’s throat, and that stands out in a genre that’s not always known for its subtlety.
