Artist

Margo Price

Buffalo Prairie, United States • b. 1983

Margo Price is a musician from Buffalo Prairie, United States, active since 1983. Their discography on Gatefold includes 9 records.

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Albums tracked

In collections

1983

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Biography

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

The Arc of Margo Price

The pivots — what forced Margo Price to reinvent.

The Sun Studio Gamble
Desperate and self-funding, Price booked three nights at Memphis's historic Sun Studio with a band of local pickers. They tracked live to tape, captured the bleed in the room, and leaned hard into the classic mid-century country blueprint. This raw session became her debut, Midwest Farmer's Daughter, after Jack White rescued it from obscurity. The record's lean, punchy rhythm section and her unvarnished vocals proved that Nashville's polished production line was missing the entire point.
The Sound Stage Pivot
For That's How Rumors Get Started, Price abandoned Tennessee for Los Angeles, tracking at EastWest Studios with Sturgill Simpson producing. Simpson stripped away the traditional twin fiddles and pedal steel, replacing them with big 1980s guitar tones, driving synth-pop basslines, and backing vocalists. It was a polarizing move that alienated country purists but showed her refusal to get boxed into a retro-outlaw corner. You can hear the shift immediately in the driving, Fleetwood Mac-style groove of the lead tracks.
The California Psychedelic Era
Price went deeper into the desert for Strays, collaborating with producer Jonathan Wilson at his Fuzz Canyon studio in California. Fueled by psilocybin and a desire for sonic expansion, she brought in Mike Campbell to inject Heartbreakers-style guitar muscle into her sound. The resulting tracks are lush, loud, and heavily layered with synthesizers and organ, completely shedding the acoustic folk framework of her early days. It is the sound of a writer operating entirely outside the jurisdiction of country music.

Influences

Loretta Lynn — Price frequently cites Lynn as her ultimate songwriting blueprint and recorded the duet 'I'm Still Woman' with her. You hear Lynn's influence in Price's unflinching lyricism about reproductive rights, class, and domestic struggle. She matches Lynn's ability to deliver brutal home truths over a traditional honky-tonk bounce.
Dolly Parton — Price covered 'Light of a Clear Blue Morning' on Strays and has repeatedly pointed to Parton's independent streak as her career model. The influence is clear in Price's vocal phrasing, particularly her control of a sharp, emotional vibrato when the arrangement swells. Parton's 1970s transition from acoustic traditionalist to crossover artist set the exact precedent for Price's own sonic shifts.
Bobbie Gentry — Price has performed Gentry's songs live, including 'Sermon,' and shares her gift for gritty, southern gothic storytelling. You can hear Gentry's swampy, acoustic-soul arrangements all over Price's sophomore record, All American Made. It is a specific kind of country-funk that relies on groove rather than standard bluegrass picking.
Waylon Jennings — Price toured extensively with Waylon's son, Shooter Jennings, and has performed at multiple Jennings tribute concerts. The influence is baked into her early rhythm sections, which utilize that relentless, driving four-on-the-floor outlaw country beat. It is the antithesis of the soft, polite balladry that dominated mainstream country radio during her rise.
Tom Petty — Price's recruitment of Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell for her later records was a direct nod to Petty's blend of heartland rock and pop craftsmanship. You hear this influence in the anthemic, guitar-heavy choruses of her post-2020 material. She took Petty's formula of simple chords played with maximum attitude and ran with it.