Margo Price Live in Philly
Margo Rae Price (born April 15, 1983) is an American country singer-songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Fader has called her “country’s next star.” Her debut solo album Midwest Farmer’s Daughter was released on Third Man Records on March 25, 2016. The album was recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, and was engineered by Matt Ross-Spang. The album was recorded in three days. On tour, she is backed by her band the Pricetags.
Price grew up in the small town of Aledo, Illinois, where she played piano and sang in the church choir before studying dance and theater at Northern Illinois University. She dropped out of school in 2003, at age 20, and moved to Nashville, Tennessee.
In Nashville, Price worked a number of jobs including waiting tables, installing and removing residential siding, and teaching children to dance at a YMCA. Price and her husband, guitarist Jeremy Ivey, were part of Secret Handshake, a band that only played political songs before she and Ivey started Buffalo Clover and later formed Margo and the Pricetags, which she says was “supposed to be a supergroup.” Sturgill Simpson and Kenny Vaughan, longtime guitarist in Marty Stuart’s band, have both been in the lineup at various times.
Price has been described by Rolling Stone Country as “a fixture of the East Nashville music community,” and appeared on that publication’s list of Country Artists You Need to Know in 2014. Fellow Nashville musician Aaron Lee Tasjan calls her “a singular and vital part of this scene, as a thing unto herself.” In 2015, she provided backing vocals to the song “Prohibition Rose” from The Limestone Kid album by Parker McCollum. In December 2018, Price received a nomination for Best New Artist at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
Price cites Janis Joplin, Bobbie Gentry, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton as major influences. Her voice has also been compared to those of Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. Price’s great-uncle, Bobby Fischer, was a songwriter for George Jones, Conway Twitty, Charley Pride, and Reba McEntire. Nashville Scene noted that she often writes about “life’s cruel twists and unjust turns” and that “her matter-of-factness conveys an enduring humility.” In an interview with Aquarium Drunkard, Price admitted that “for a very long time, I didn’t want to be a white girl, I wanted to be a soul singer”, listing James Brown and Etta James as particular favorites. She also added that Bob Dylan is her favorite songwriter and talked about how political songs influenced her.
I also got some video of her doing a cover version of Tom Petty’s Mary Jane’s Last Dance.