The proudly stubborn singer-songwriter stopped drinking, released a memoir, then took another left turn.
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The group protests sneaking in before her fiddle player, Kristin Weber, speaks up.
Dont yall get it?
Margo is going to do what Margo wants, and thats just that.
Years later, Price doesnt drink or need to sneak into hotels, but shes just as stubborn.
She also barely makes country music anymore.
And Im like,Im just chasing the song.
I have friends hitting me up, and Im like, Im sorry.
Im never going to be able to see you again because Im just too fucking busy.
So I wanted to be able to have another renaissance of just getting my name back out there.
I knew I was going to have to do something big.
People were talking about your last record,Thats How Rumors Get Started, as more of a detour.
But withStrays, it seems like this is This is more.
How many wrong left turns can I take in my career?
I know a lot of people just want country music from me.
Thats all that I care about, is that a songs good.
Do they connect to me?
And do they connect to other people?
And then, the next day, we would wake up sober and then we would write.
When I started writing it, I was still drinking.
The band has really shaped how this album turned out as well.
There are parts of this album that sound darker than anything else youve done.
County Road is almost southern gothic.Love that.
I wanted the album to be like a psychedelic trip, where you go into dark things sometimes.
Youre like,Do I want to look in the mirror?
We all lost this really good friend of ours a few years ago.
His name was Ben Eyestone, and he was a drummer.
He was having a lot of health problems and then he died very, very suddenly from colon cancer.
It was a song about him finally getting some wheels when he got to Heaven.
And also, it was like he got out before the world kind of turned to shit.
So that song means a lot to us collectively as a group.
I started writing the book in 2018.
It took about four and a half years to complete.
So the book has a couple chapters that ended up beingsong titles.
So those started as the chapter titles?Both, I guess.
When I first wrote the book, it was just 500 pages of word vomit, like Kerouac scrawl.
I didnt even know it was 500 pages.
Its funny how they mirror each other.
Were like,Okay, those are definitely going on the record.
You dont have to be completely direct with your audience, like,Is this about me?
I didnt even know that people used ghostwriters to write books.
But I definitely took the hard way.
Songwriting, sometimes the song comes lightning fast.
But, man, the book I almost couldnt multitask.
I didnt know what I was getting myself into.
I dont think that I wouldve gotSaturday Night Liveor all those things.
I am so grateful to Third Man for believing in what I was doing.
And when people come to our live show, theyre getting much more than just a country show.
They always were, even from the beginning.
Now its just on the records.
It was cool to see Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers on the new album.
So my label wanted me to try writing with some people for this record other than my husband.
Im very stubborn and set in my ways.
But my manager said, Hey, why dont you write with Mike Campbell?
We hit him up, and he had only written with Tom andChris Stapletonrecently.
And weve become really, really close with him.
So he came in, he laid down that lead on that song it was his first take.
Hes like, Oh, you want me to bow-ditty, bow-ditty?
And we were like, What?
Hes like, You know [imitates guitar riff].
Yeah, he was being hilarious.
So thats what you hear all over the album.
Its really special because theres no other organ that sounds like that one.
It was a really hard day.
And, you know, she lived a really long life and everything.
But I was in shock.
I had a bunch of stuff planned for that day, but honestly I couldnt do it.
I just lay on my bed and cried for a few hours.
It was almost just Kismet.
It was like,Well, of course she would die today.[Laughs.]
Im still trying to process it.
The very first time that I met her, we were backstage and her daughter brought me back.
I was shaking and was so nervous.
And shes like, Mom, I want you to meet Margo.
Yall are so similar because you both kind ofwrite similar songsand youre both Aries.
Our birthdays are one day apart.
Were both color-blind, which is very odd.
Who would want to talk about something like that right now?!
And I just started laughing so hard.
It could have went dark, but she just made it so we just laughed.
I was so pregnant.
And I was like, Yeah, of course.
I was on the set that day for my music video forAll American Made.And I was pregnant.
She was like, Patsy said you were thinking about having another baby.
And shes like, No!
It was just how it was.
My mom was Loretta Lynn.
Shes like, Why?
Are you thinking about having another kid?
I was like, Maybe.
So when Loretta calls me, shes like, Well, I think you should.
You should have five more babies.
Dont even worry about it.
Your fans are going to love you no matter what.
So my daughter is named after Loretta.
But then I realized that theres always a comedown after doing something really big.
Like playingSNL, the next day or a few days after, youre going to feel low again.
And I just thought that once my music took off, all my problems would be solved.
Is the book going to be on the New YorkTimesbest-seller list?All those things.
Because the second I start getting lost in that, its so counterintuitive.
Thats not why I picked up the guitar in the first place.
And I always have to go back and remind myself why I did.
The second I start feeling like that, Im like,Its time to write another song.
That was the hardest thing for me.
It was hard for me to hear that.
That was really dangerous.
I tried to really take some steps to actually make it happen.
And then it would just creep back in slowly.
So, yeah, I think the book was a big part of therapy.
Its great to have the book end on that.The first draft of the book was very, very different.
I wasnt lying, but I was leaving things out.
Like,Would my career go better if I went and got my lips injected with this shit?
I was like,I look different.
And Im like,No.
I struggle very much with my self-image.
I knew for so long I really would probably be better off if I could just quit the booze.
Its been a theme in this conversation.Right.
Going against the grain, doing something different and its like,Shit.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
