Kacey Musgraves released her sixth studio album Deeper Well earlier this year, which included the track “Cardinal,” inspired by the death of Musgraves’ mentor and friend, John Prine. Now, the seven-time Grammy-winner has debuted the “Cardinal” music video, which opens with a hallucinatory over-the-shoulder shot of Musgraves’ reflection as she sings into a pocket compact mirror.
Musgraves met Prine in 2015 when she joined him aboard his Cayamo: A Journey Through Song cruise, where they teamed up for his songs “Illegal Smile” and “Paradise.” The pair reunited two years later to sing Prine’s classic “Angel from Montgomery” at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado.
“Cardinal” is the opening track on Musgraves’ Deeper Well, which dropped in March, and the singer explained the song’s connection to Prine: “Unexplainable things started happening and cardinals started showing up on my doorstep soon after my good friend and mentor passed, John Prine. He always had a big connection to cardinals and felt that they were messengers from the spirit realm. He inspired this song, no doubt.” (per American Songwriter).
After Prine’s death, Mustraves told PEOPLE: “They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes, but you’ll never meet someone as truly genuine as he was. There are two times I’ve ever seen my dad cry: my Memaw’s funeral and the time I got to play with John Prine.”
See the video for “Cardinal”: here.
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