When encountering the long-philosophized two roads diverged in a yellow wood, there's an unquestioned knowledge that Margo Price will take the one less travelled by. Today, the Nashville-based singer-songwriter releases Strays — her fourth studio album — via Loma Vista, and charts her own course entirely.
"I know a lot of people just want country music from me," she recently told Vulture's Justin Curto in an interview. "And while on this album we snuck in some pedal steel, and it still is my band playing live in a room, and there's lots of acoustic instruments, it's hard to describe what genre it is. I really do feel like it is a bit genreless, but I still feel like it's me and it's focused on the song."
Price added, "I see peers of mine that end up making the same records over and over that seem like they're just chasing the success of it all. And I'm like, I'm just chasing the song."
Produced by the singer-songwriter and Jonathan Wilson (Angel Olsen, Father John Misty), the 10-track release spans everything from rock 'n' roll to blues, pop and psychedelia, boasting collaborations with Sharon Van Etten, Lucius and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' right-hand man, Mike Campbell.
"I wanted the album to be like a psychedelic trip, where you go into dark things sometimes," Price said elsewhere in the interview, mirroring the rumoured six-day shroom-laden trip she took to South Carolina with her husband in 2020 that spurred the songwriting process and instilled a newfound sense of experimental confidence.
"You're like, 'Do I want to look in the mirror? Do I want to see what's there?'" Price continued. And on Strays, she definitely isn't afraid to go there, singing through the nitty gritty of her both her personal past and present (a recent decision to quit alcohol, having been on food stamps, self-image) and our collective struggles (capitalism, climate change, marginalization) to pave the way into the future.
Strays was primarily recorded the following summer over a week at Fivestar Studio in California's Topanga Canyon, where she and her longtime band of Pricetags tracked live in the same room to capture their telekinetic synergy. Right before their eyes, the songs transformed, and pre-conceived notions of their album-making process together — heard previously on 2016's Midwest Farmer's Daughter, 2017's All American Made and 2020's That's How Rumors Get Started — completely combusted.
The wayfaring results are truly something to get lost in.
Listen to the album on your platform of choice below, and read Exclaim!'s review.
"I know a lot of people just want country music from me," she recently told Vulture's Justin Curto in an interview. "And while on this album we snuck in some pedal steel, and it still is my band playing live in a room, and there's lots of acoustic instruments, it's hard to describe what genre it is. I really do feel like it is a bit genreless, but I still feel like it's me and it's focused on the song."
Price added, "I see peers of mine that end up making the same records over and over that seem like they're just chasing the success of it all. And I'm like, I'm just chasing the song."
Produced by the singer-songwriter and Jonathan Wilson (Angel Olsen, Father John Misty), the 10-track release spans everything from rock 'n' roll to blues, pop and psychedelia, boasting collaborations with Sharon Van Etten, Lucius and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' right-hand man, Mike Campbell.
"I wanted the album to be like a psychedelic trip, where you go into dark things sometimes," Price said elsewhere in the interview, mirroring the rumoured six-day shroom-laden trip she took to South Carolina with her husband in 2020 that spurred the songwriting process and instilled a newfound sense of experimental confidence.
"You're like, 'Do I want to look in the mirror? Do I want to see what's there?'" Price continued. And on Strays, she definitely isn't afraid to go there, singing through the nitty gritty of her both her personal past and present (a recent decision to quit alcohol, having been on food stamps, self-image) and our collective struggles (capitalism, climate change, marginalization) to pave the way into the future.
Strays was primarily recorded the following summer over a week at Fivestar Studio in California's Topanga Canyon, where she and her longtime band of Pricetags tracked live in the same room to capture their telekinetic synergy. Right before their eyes, the songs transformed, and pre-conceived notions of their album-making process together — heard previously on 2016's Midwest Farmer's Daughter, 2017's All American Made and 2020's That's How Rumors Get Started — completely combusted.
The wayfaring results are truly something to get lost in.
Listen to the album on your platform of choice below, and read Exclaim!'s review.
