Not a Boys Club Anymore

Country music is in the midst of a “post-Stapleton” renaissance following recent Grammy winner Chris Stapleton’s move from successful songwriter and part-time outlaw troubador to mainstream success story. In a genre always defined by songwriting, old-school chops and instrumentation now are more desirable than slick pop productions. 

But, outlaw country has a history of being primarily a boys club since the days of Willie and Waylon to now Stapleton and Simpson. That’s not to say female songwriters are not making a splash (look no further than recent releases by Aubrie Sellers and Ashley Monroe), but there is more often than not a break in conversation from Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert to Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell. 

And then there’s Margo Price. 

Recently signed to Jack White’s Third Man Records, Price’s debut album Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, recorded at the famed Sun Studios, does not hold back from its honky-tonk roots recalling the biting wit of Loretta Lynn and mournful ballads of Waylon Jennings. Yet, it’s an album indicative of Nashville’s recent reflection on itself, brimming with the 1960s and 1970s style soul meets western orchestral instrumentation becoming popular once again. 

At only 32-years-old, Price has had her fair share of hardships. Midwest Farmer’s Daughter plays like a musical memoir, with Price unapologetically laying these truths out on the line, from the death of her firstborn son in 2010 to the loss of her family’s farm and her move to Nashville. Opening with the line “When I rolled out of town on the unpaved road I was fifty-seven dollars from being broke,” the album’s first song “Hands of Time” dispells all doubts on Price’s musical direction and influence. “Hurtin’ on the Bottle” could have easily been recorded forty-years ago, yet in the midst of country music’s latest roots renaissance it does not sound dated. On “This Town Gets Around” Price’s biting commentary on Nashville’s Music Row, the essence of modern country songwriting is laid out on the line–“I won’t be put out or be controlled/ I don’t write the shit that gets bought and sold.”  This is a classic honky-tonk record about hard country living, told directly and honestly by a woman who has conquered these trials and tribulations firsthand. 

It seems impossible to imagine it took years before a label gave Price the recognition she deserved from the get-go. Self-described as more David Allan Coe than Kacey Musgraves, Price is a fresh voice and first-rate songwriter in a genre where women are either no-nonsense and brash or sentimental and sweet. It’s nice to see yet another woman break down the walls of outlaw country’s boys club.