On Monday, March 2, I attended a media listening party held to advance That’s How Rumors Get Started, the latest album from Margo Price now slated to drop July 10, at the legendary Sound Emporium Studios. Having spent years as a denizen of recording studios, I always welcome the opportunity to hear an as-yet-to-be-released record by an artist I really like on a killer sound system. Especially when it happens to be a killer record. As an added bonus, Margo and her husband/partner in crime, life, children & music, Jeremy Ivey, were kind enough to perform a few tracks from the record as a duo. Kind of the hanging out, sittin’ on the porch, singing songs & laughin’ vibe from whence the whole ride started, only in the B-Room of one of the coolest places in town.
While Margo rose to fame on the Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, with its trad-country roots delivered with sonics and a mental landscape updated for the modern listener, it belies some of her other roots. Kicking around town in bands like Buffalo Clover and sitting in regularly with many others, it was readily apparent her influences ran the gamut; from full-throated R&B to straight-up rock ‘n’ roll and just about anything and everything in between. Which is why I wasn’t surprised to find her latest — produced by Sturgill Simpson, and co-produced by Price and David Ferguson — coming down a bit more on the rock ‘n’ roll side of things. Not surprised, but definitely blown away.
But back to that date again, March 2. After the shindig wrapped, I made my way over to East Nashville via the Jefferson Street bridge. Little did I know three hours later a tornado would follow my exact path and wreak havoc and devastation. Margo would contribute to a fundraiser for tornado victims a week later. Then a week after that, Nashville’s mayor issued a Stay at Home order in response to the pandemic. As we were all grasping for ways to understand the fact that everything had changed, everything changed. Here’s what Margo has to say about it:
Take me back to the day I started trying to paint my masterpiece so I could warn myself of what was ahead. Time has rearranged, it has slowed down, it has manipulated things like it always does … the words to some of these songs have changed meaning, they now carry heavier weight.
I’ve seen the streets set ablaze, the sky set on fire. I’ve been manic, heartbroken for the world, heartbroken for the country, heartbroken from being heartbroken again and again.
This album is a postcard of a landscape of a moment in time. It’s not political but maybe it will provide an escape or relief to someone who needs it. Sending love to everyone out there and hope I see you down the highway.
Makes sense to me. I can definitely see why Margo needed some time to grapple with things. We all have. How do we contextualize the unprecedented? Ignoring the past, the before, serves no purpose, because how else will we be able to understand how we arrived here. It’s the biggest of BIG DEALS we’ve been faced with, collectively, in a very. long. time.
So, here we are and, luckily for us, so is Margo. To accompany the announcement, she’s releasing a video for the single “Letting Me Down“, along with pre-order links for That’s How Rumors Get Started available here.
Stay safe, and we’ll see you down the highway.
