Margo Price- Hard Headed Woman
Label: Loma Vista
Producers: Matt Ross-Spang
When Margo Price first stormed onto the indie-country music scene nearly a decade ago with her debut, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, the throwback honky nature of the project had purists instantly proclaiming her as a new genre savior and this generation’s answer to Loretta Lynn, who was certainly the most obvious influence in Price’s work out of the gate. It’s a trite industry trend that has plagued the Nashville scene for its entire existence; the constant push and pull of modern pop influences feeding the need for critics to praise any newcomer with the slightest traditional bent as the second coming of Hank Williams. It’s a daunting and unrealistic burden to place on any new artist, and many have crumbled underneath it through the years. However, like many others before her, Price has boldly risen above and beyond it, assuredly building one of this era’s most sturdy catalogs, and one that has expanded well outside her neo-trad origins. Beginning with 2020’s excellent That’s How Rumors Get Started, she began indulging in a blend of Gram & Emmylou-recalling country-rock and classic rock psychedelia, a tone that reached a fever pitch on 2023’s remarkable Strays, another career milestone that our site named that year’s best album.
With such a lofty track-record, the anticipation for this unveiling of her fifth record is high, but further magnified by the hints throughout the past year suggesting Price was stylistically returning to a harder country sound. And while the sonic evolution of her records did nothing to damage her critical acclaim, thanks to the sheer and unflappable honesty and authenticity of her output, the clamoring for a revival of her roots has been rampant. From the respectively fiddling and shit-kicking first notes of the album’s titular prelude and the following lead single, “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down”, there’s no mistaking the fact that Price has returned to her twangy roost. Some may be tempted to call this a “return-to-form”, which again would be terribly inaccurate given how consistently great her work has remained since her breakthrough. Instead, Hard Headed Woman is a glorious full-circle moment, immediately affirming that the spitting potency of her pure country bona-fides (lyrical highlights abound and include “All the cocaine in existence couldn’t keep your nose out of my business”.) have lost none of their fire in the past eight years, but rather only gained additional inspiration and gravitas through her additional years of life experience, and an ever-troubling societal climate.
Price reunites with original producer, Matt Ross-Spang, and they immediately pick up where they left off on her 2017 sophomore record. Together, they once again provide the legendary Outlaw Country lexicon with generous new standouts, from the aforementioned “Bastards” and the blistering “Red-Eye Flight” to the dusty-yet-lilting “Wild at Heart” (anchored by another standout lyrical quip in “Got two birds stoned at once.”) and the outstanding “Losing Streak”, which instantly feels like a new career signature in the same vein as “Hands of Time” or “Hurtin’ on the Bottle”. In the midst of these great originals, the bulk of which are once again co-penned with Price’s husband and alt-country favorite, Jeremy Ivey, she graciously breathes new vitality into deep-cut gems from two of country’s most towering giants: the post-Wynette divorce declaration of George Jones with “I Just Don’t Give A Damn”, and Waylon Jennings’ hidden 90s treasure, “Kissing You Goodbye”.
The collaborative spirit of the 70s Outlaw movement has always been strong in Price’s catalog, and that’s no different throughout Hard Headed Woman. “Bastards” was not only co-written with the iconic Rodney Crowell, but also features both a vocal cameo and posthumous credits for the great Kris Kristofferson, who notably quipped the slogan out of support for the late Sinead O’Connor back in the early 90s. Meanwhile, folk singer Jesse Welles joins her on “Don’t Wake Me Up”, and in the 2025 equivalent of a roots music fan’s dream, she and Tyler Childers sound born to sing together on “Love Me Like You Used to Do”. (It should be noted that last year’s standout duet with Billy Strings, “Too Stoned to Cry” is surprisingly absent.) And while she’s always carried a torch for the tremendous male lineage of the 1970s country golden age, it’s devastating modern heartache tunes like “Close to You” and a new career fave, “Nowhere Is Where”, that remind us that her greatest influences come from the era’s signature ladies like Loretta, Emmylou, Jessi, and Tammy. Her innate ability to tap into the perspectives of both genders, and likewise combine the touchstones of the past with a topical POV that is undeniably current and rooted in the challenges and concerns of modern times, makes her a pivotally unique voice, and one that will prove to have the same timeless impact of those who inspired her.
To say that Hard Headed Woman proves to be the superlative return-to-roots event that her following had hoped and predicted it to be would be one of the year’s biggest understatements. Margo Price has emphatically proven over the past decade that she can conquer any musical style she sets out to, and I don’t doubt that she’ll continue to traverse down a sonically meandering and continually rewarding path on future releases. But this record not only proves that she can seamlessly slip back into her core-country clothing at any moment, but also demonstrates that it remains the sphere where she seems to both thrive, and enjoy herself the most. It’s another peak performance from an artist who has proven to be one of the most consistent of the current era.
Track Listing:
- “Prelude (Hard Headed Woman)” (Margo Price)
- “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down” (Price, Jeremy Ivey, Rodney Crowell, Kris Kristofferson)
- “Red Eye Flight” (Price, Ivey, Crowell)
- “Don’t Wake Me Up” featuring Jesse Welles (Price, Ivey)
- “Close to You” (Price, Ivey)
- “Nowhere Is Where” (Price, Ivey, Morgan Nagler)
- “Losing Streak” (Price, Ivey)
- “I Just Don’t Give A Damn” (George Jones, Jimmy Peppers)
- “Keep A Picture” (Price, Ivey)
- “Love Me Like You Used To Do” featuring Tyler Childers (Steven Knudson)
- “Wild At Heart” (Price, Ivey)
- “Kissing You Goodbye” (Waylon Jennings)
The 706 