Kacey Musgraves to play shows with recently detained mariachi players
The country singer will share a stage with the Gámez-Cuéllar brothers, who were detained by ICE in February, on May 3-5 in New Braunfels, Texas.
Photo by Kelly Christine Sutton
Two months ago, the Gámez-Cuéllar family’s routine check-in with Texas immigration officials turned into an ICE detainment. The backlash was swift and bipartisan, with Democrat politicians immediately leading the charge and calling for the release of the family of five, which included two award-winning high-school mariachi band members. Critics of the decision were quick to point out that, just a year earlier, two of the boys—18-year-old Antonio and 14-year-old Caleb—performed at the US Capitol at the invitation of Republican congresswoman Monica De La Cruz.
The boys, their brother Joshua, and their parents were released from ICE custody two weeks later to raucous support—including from Texas-born musician Kacey Musgraves, who will release her fourth album Middle of Nowhere this Friday. Next week, Musgraves is set to perform a trio of shows at historic Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas, with an assist from all three Gámez-Cuéllar brothers, who will perform as her opening act under the moniker The Mariachi Brothers. After their release in March, Musgraves extended the invitation, reposting a story announcing their return home and writing, “great so come on the road with me.”
Kacey Musgraves has been vocal about her opposition of President Donald Trump, saying in 2020 that voting for the then-presidential candidate was an “act of violence” against minority communities. Recently she mocked the president’s use of AI to depict himself as Jesus with her own image showing Dolly Parton as the son of God. (This joke, for its part, went over poorly with her anti-AI fans.) She has been an outspoken critic of ICE and, in February, praised Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance and admonished Turning Point USA’s counter-programming in one fell swoop, writing, “That made me feel more proudly American than anything Kid Rock has ever done.” Musgraves will be performing with the Gámez-Cuéllar brothers from May 3-5, with their third performance falling on Cinco de Mayo.
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