Musgrove was born in Tocowa, Mississippi and graduated from Northwest Community College, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Mississippi Law School.
In 1987, he won a seat in the state Senate that he held until his successful run for the lieutenant governorship in 1995.
He defeated Republican opponent Mike Parker for the governor's office in the 1999 election. However, since neither candidate received a majority of the popular vote, the Mississippi House of Representatives had to offically select the winner.
Musgrove advocated a change in the state flag which featured prominently the Confederate Battle Flag and set up a committee to select a new design. The argeed upon design replaced the battle flag from the canton with a circular array of twenty stars (Mississippi is the 20th state) a blue background. A referendum was held in April 2001 to determine whether or not the new flag would be adopted. A large majority of voters (65%) elected to keep the old design.
He lost his bid for re-election in 2003 to Republican challenger Haley Barbour.