Margo Price

Biography

Margo Rae Price (born April 15, 1983) is an American country singer-songwriter, producer, and author based in Nashville. Born in Northern Illinois, after several years of living and performing in Nashville she released her debut album Midwest Farmer's Daughter in 2016.
Price has released six studio albums and multiple live albums and singles. Her music mixes country rock and honky tonk with slower ballads and psychedelia in a style she has described as "feral and free". Her songwriting covers topics including parenting, friendship, economic struggle, and hard living.
An advocate for anti-racism, women's rights, gun violence prevention, economic empowerment, and migrant workers, Price is a board member of Farm Aid, and has helped raise funds and awareness for several other organizations including Oxfam, ACLU, and Noise For Now.

Career

Price grew up in the small town of Aledo, Illinois where she played piano and sang in a church choir before studying dance and theater at Northern Illinois University.
In Nashville, Price worked several 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." Recording artist Sturgill Simpson and Kenny Vaughan, longtime guitarist in Marty Stuart's band, have both been in the lineup at various times.
Rolling Stone Country described Price as "a fixture of the East Nashville music community," and she 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 previewing Price's first album release, The Fader 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 April 9, 2016, Price was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. On May 17, 2016, she made her UK television debut on Later... with Jools Holland. In addition to her appearance on UK television, her tracks have appeared on shows on BBC Radio 6 Music, notably with Steve Lamacq. On October 6, 2016, she appeared on Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. On November 16, 2016, she appeared on Charlie Rose, performing "All American Made×All American Made20 October 2017 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Don’t Say It2:432Weakness2:473A Little Pain2:554Learning to Lose6:195Pay Gap3:536Nowhere Fast4:077Cocaine Cowboys3:268Wild Women2:569Heart of America3:1510Do Right By Me3:1011Loner4:3012All American Made5:50" (a Buffalo Clover song) and "Hands of Time" from Midwest Farmer's Daughter.
Price has proven to be popular in the UK, with her album reaching number 1 on the UK Country Albums Chart, embarking on UK tours in 2016 and 2017, performing on Later... with Jools Holland and at the Glastonbury Festival as well as garnering three nominations from the UK Americana Awards.
In her concerts, Price plays acoustic guitar and electric guitar and sings. In addition there is a second drum kit on stage, and as part of a coda for one or another of her songs, she plays those drums for a several-minute jam with the rest of the band. On July 27, 2017, Price released a four-track EP titled Weakness×Weakness27 July 2017 · EPSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Weakness2:452Just Like Love3:383Paper Cowboy6:154Good Luck (For Ben Eyestone)3:05, followed on October 20, 2017, by her second album, All American Made.
Price performed as part of the C2C: Country to Country festival in 2018. In December 2018, she received a nomination for Best New Artist at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. On July 10, 2020, she released her third album, That's How Rumors Get Started.
On April 8, 2021, it was announced that Price had joined the board of directors for Farm Aid, along with Willie Nelson's wife Annie. On October 4, 2022, Margo released her first memoir, Maybe We’ll Make It: A Memoir, published by University of Texas Press. Her fourth album, Strays×Strays13 January 2023 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Been to the Mountain5:282Light Me Up5:053Radio2:494Change of Heart4:045County Road6:086Time Machine2:467Hell in the Heartland4:288Anytime You Call3:489Lydia6:1210Landfill5:36, was issued in January 2023. Later that year, Price performed on and produced Jessi Colter's album Edge of Forever.
In 2024, Price collaborated with Mike Campbell (formerly of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) to cover Petty's song "Ways to be Wicked" for the Petty Country Tribute Album. Campbell and Price have previously collaborated on the Dirty Knobs song, "State of Mind", and her own song "Light Me Up". She also worked with Orville Peck on the track "You're an Asshole, I Can't Stand You (And I Want a Divorce)" for his duets album Stampede, released in August 2024.
She released Days of Unrest, an album described as a protest music mixtape, on July 3, 2026. The surprise release in support of migrant workers was themed with mariachi instrumentals named for San Marcos and a Blaze Foley cover, other cover songs, and vocal accompaniment by Billy Swan and Joan Baez.

Influences

Price cites Tom Petty, Janis Joplin, Bobbie Gentry, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, and Dolly Parton as significant 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."

Personal life

Price is married to Jeremy Ivey, who plays guitar in her band. In 2010, Price gave birth to twin boys, one of whom died shortly after birth. On June 4, 2019, Price had their third child, a girl.