Marissa Moss starts her essential 2022 book, Her Country, with a scene of Kacey Musgraves packing Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena – a feat the author highlights as the emergence of a new brand of female artists kicking down country music’s barriers by pushing beyond the expectations of the genre and building a diverse and dedicated fan base. Texan Musgraves continues to chart her own path behind this year’s meditative Deeper Well, an aloe to the burning world, with her current arena tour literally levitating the artist above the world. Lord Huron and reunited Nickel Creek set up the spectacle. – Doug Freeman