[ad_1]
Margo Price feels like a caged tiger.
A straight-talking singer-songwriter who straddles country, pop and psychedelic rock, she’s eagerly awaiting her first major tour since 2018. Chelsea Live! It was the second stop of a six-show tour ahead of the January release of her fourth studio album, “Strays.”
“When I walked off the stage in 2018, I didn’t know it was going to be like this,” the Illinois farmer’s daughter said from her home in Nashville, Tennessee. “I got pregnant, and then the pandemic came. It’s tough for any artist. But when people go broke, art is the first thing to go. I understand people are hurting and struggling.”
Price delayed the release, but finally released her third album, “This Is How the Rumors Began,” during the pandemic. Although Price was unable to promote it on the road, “Rumor” peaked at No. 17 on Billboard’s country albums chart.
“It breaks my heart that we didn’t go on tour with those songs,” she said.
More than two years later, Price will play songs from all of her albums on her “‘Til the Wheels Fall Off Tour.” These included songs from “All American Made,” released in 2017, which earned her a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.
“We’re making a lot of things up,” she said.
Price did perform in the past few years, but those performances were abbreviated openings and festival sets.
“We did a series of Outlaw festival tours with Willie Nelson, and we also toured with Chris Stapleton,” she says. “But doing a 30-minute to 60-minute set is different than doing a 90-minute show by myself and having my own crowd. I can’t wait to play for my friends and fans.”
A few weeks ago, Price wrapped up a tour of a different kind — a book tour for her soulful memoir, “Maybe We’ll Make It.” The book covers the years of struggle she endured before Jack White’s Third Man Records released her breakthrough debut album 2016’s Midwest Farmer’s Daughter.
“I felt compelled to share what I was going through,” Price said of the memoir. “My path, and navigating through failure and rejection, is a much more interesting story than it is now.”
During the book tour, Price returned to Nashville to sing at the star-studded Loretta Lynn memorial service at the Grand Ole Opry. The trailblazing, influential and much-loved Lynn, who died October 4 at the age of 90, invited Price to perform at the Memorial Concert. The Farmer’s Daughter sang the most controversial song “The Pill” by the Coal Miner’s Daughter.
“I had a lot of ideas about the songs I wanted to do because I really liked all of her songs,” Price said. “But ‘The Pill’ was the one song my family and I thought needed to be sung the most. They said I was the only one who could do it. So, it was a special request from the family. I was happy to oblige.”
In 2019, Price sang at Lynn’s 87th birthday celebration and farewell performance at Bridgestone Arena. Price and Jack White performed a duet on “Portland, Oregon,” and soloed Price on Lynn’s 1971 hit “One’s on the Way,” when she was eight months pregnant with her daughter Ramona.
Lynn was an inspiration and mentor to Price.
“If I hadn’t grown up listening to her music, I don’t think I would be making country records the way I am,” Price said. “In later years she became like a relative to me. We recorded together and she gave me valuable advice that I will always cherish.”
Like Lynn, Price doesn’t write June love songs.
“I try to follow the example of telling the truth and saying things in a transparent way, like Loretta, John Pryan and Bob Dylan did,” she said.
Price considers herself lucky to know many of the singer-songwriters she respects.
“It’s like medicine, in front of them,” she said. “John Prine and Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris and Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Mavis Staples – these are spiritual, almost patron saints who come into your life and give you stories of the past and good advice . Having a relationship like that is the biggest factor in my success.”
Margot Price/Cam Franklin
wednesday at 8 p.m.
Chelsea Live! , 1010 Nicholson Drive
$25-$99
[ad_2]
Source link