Kacey Musgraves isn't necessarily the spokesperson for modern country music but her debut album, "Same Trailer Different Park," is powerful enough to shift the direction of the genre.

This album captures the untamed spirit of Musgraves and has received positive attention from a diverse audience. Released March 19 on Mercury Records, the 12 tracks showcase the 24-year-old's songs that flip around clichés that aren't worried about being patriotic. Musgraves, with just one song, has ended the conventional country music idiom.

VENTNOR – It was…

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – Developers of an affordable housing project got the green light to move ahead with plans to convert the Clarion Hotel into apartments on Wednesday, May 8 after Township Committee passed a series of resolutions by a 4-1 vote authorizing the project.

GALLOWAY – “It’s amazing what they’ve accomplished here,” Mayor Don Purdy said of the way Galloway Township Historical Society members worked over the former post office building in front of the Municipal Complex.

Saturday, May 11 was a big day for many, graduating Richard Stockton College or celebrating with friends or relatives who graduated.

Historic Smithville Inn owner Tony Coppola talks to eighth-graders from Absecon’s Emma C. Attales Middle School on Tuesday, May 14. Cappola told the students about the inn’s centuries of history. The staff of the Historic Smithville Inn later showed the students what the restaurant industry is like. Photo by R.J. Liberatore Jr.