Margo Price – Hard Headed Woman (Loma Vista) (13th Floor Album Review)
“I’m high as the heavens and stubborn as hell. I ain’t ashamed, I’m just a hard-headed woman.” Margo Price states her case succinctly on the opening track of this, her fifth studio album, Hard Headed Woman.
Despite being accused of “cutting in line” when her first album, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter was released to rave reviews in 2016, Margo hasn’t had an easy time of it.
No one seemed to notice that she made that first solo record at age 33 after years of paying her dues and learning her craft.
But unfortunately, the Tall Poppy Syndrome is alive and well in the Country Music Community, especially if you are a woman.
Price’s “liberal” opinions…she criticised Jason Aldean’s Try That In A Small Town along with Luke Combs’ use of the Confederate flag…quickly made her an outcast in her adopted home of Nashville.
In a July 2020 article titled On Margo Price Leaving Country Music Behind, the magazine Saving Country Music claimed Price “never resonated with the public” and “her records are subpar compared to her live performances”.
By then, Price was no longer calling herself a Country artist, instead claiming that That’s How Rumors Get Started was a Rock & Roll record.
But a year ago, on Substack, Margo posted…Why I Left Country Music & Why I’m Coming Back To Kick Its Ass
And that’s just what she does on Hard Headed Woman.
Produced by Matt Ross-Spang…who worked on that first album…and co-written with guitarist/hubby Jeremy Ivey, Hard Headed Woman is the record Margo Price was born to make.
Equal parts sassy and classy, it begins, after that Prelude I quoted at the top, with Don’t Let The Bastards Get You Down. Yes, that’s what Kris Kristofferson said to Sinead O’Connor after she was booed at the Dylan-fest and ol’ Kris not only gets a writing credit but we hear him at the end.
I can’t tell you who is playing with Margo, other than Jeremy Ivey, but whoever they are, they sound like one tight unit as they chug away on Red Eye Flight and rock out on the Dylanesque Losing Streak.
Along with the music, Margo provides plenty of lyrics worth quoting…”get your tongue outta my mouth, I’m kissin’ you goodbye”, she orders on the closer, while Close To You has a quiet intensity that draws you in to lines like, “we played the jukebox while democracy fell”
Take that MAGA!
Five albums into her solo career and Margo Price sounds like she knows who she is and what she’s capable of.
And from the sound of the 12 tracks that make up Hard Headed Woman, she’s made a very good Country record…hell there’s even a George Jones cover in there!
Marty Duda
Hard Headed Woman will be released on Friday 29 August via Loma Vista Records.
