When I greeted Margo Price in the NPR garage before her Tiny Desk performance, tears were streaming down her face. It was Wednesday morning, Nov. 9, the day after the 2016 election. For her — as for many Americans — it was a stunning and bewildering moment in time, a day when life and the everyday took on new meaning. And so when she and her band began to play "All American Made," a song she's sung many times before, those words about America's changes and failures in the 21st century seemed even more powerful.
Margo Price is a Nashville-based musician, the sort of country artist that captures the hearts of those both inside and outside the country-music scene. Her debut album, Midwest Farmer's Daughter,is one of the brightest moments in country in a very strong year.
As this Tiny Desk progresses, even "Four Years Of Chances," her song of a love gone wrong, feels less about a lousy husband and more about presidential politics. She dedicates her third and final song, "About To Find Out," to Donald Trump; she says it was originally written about a "musician acquaintance of mine who's a complete sociopath." When the song ends, she rips open her red cowboy shirt to reveal a T-shirt with the words "Icky Trump"-- a play on the title of The White Stripes' song "Icky Thump," which criticizes the U.S.'s immigration policies. She smiles, wipes a tear away: It seems cathartic, but temporary.
Midwest Farmer's Daughter is available now (iTunes) (Amazon).
Set List
Musicians
Margo Price (vocals, guitar); Jeremy Ivey (harmonica); Micah Hulscher (piano); Dillon Napier (drums); Kevin Black (bass); Luke Schneider (Dobro); Jamie Davis (guitar).
Credits
Producers: Bob Boilen, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Colin Marshall, Nicole Boliaux; Editor: Niki Walker; Assistant Editor: Nicole Boliaux; Production Assistant: Anna Marketti; Photo: Victoria Milko/NPR.
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