"Merry Go 'Round," the spectacular gut-punch single from 24-year-old Texan country singer Kacey Musgraves, dropped out of the clear blue sky in September. Same Trailer Different Park proves Musgraves is for real. Although she sings just fine, she doesn't have a powerful voice; like all Nashville bands, hers can play, but the music is careful, meticulous, midtempo. But man, can Musgraves write. The album showcases a songwriting voice you won't hear anywhere else in pop: young, female, downwardly mobile, fiercely witty. The loping "Follow Your Arrow" advocates nonconformity, pot-smoking (if you feel like it) and homosexuality (if you're so inclined). "Blowin' Smoke" is a blues-tinged short story about nicotine addiction and waiting tables in Vegas; "It Is What It Is" is the best, saddest ode to friends-with-benefits­ sex you'll ever hear. Musgraves' tunes are as supplely catchy as Taylor Swift's; the lyrics bite as hard as Elvis Costello's. More, please.

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.