All American Made

Description

A lot can change in a year: the rise and fall of markets, trends that come and go, presidents who are elected. In 2015, Margo Price was a country outsider just trying to keep enough gas to make it to the next gig, but by the end of 2016, she had become one of the genre's most famous new artists, omnipresent on both prime-time television and at major festivals around the world. It's the kind of year that most musicians can only dream of, and the arrival of Price's spectacular second album, All American Made, proves that she hasn't taken a single second of it for granted. Keeping the promise of her debut and then some, the album sees Price establishing herself as a songwriter who is in it for the long haul, someone with the guts to stand alongside the greats she so often shares the stage with these days. A prolific songwriter, she has never needed to look far for inspiration, and in All American Made, she and Jeremy Ivey, her partner in life as well as on stage, continue to depict the trials of everyday life with unwavering honesty, painting poetic and simple portraits of men and women just trying to escape misery. The ups and downs, the long nights and hard days, wild women and cocaine cowboys, politics and sexism—it's all there, uniquely filtered through Price's ironic and sincere perspective. Throughout the album, her contemporary take on classic sounds is both familiar and bold, a contagious blend of Nashville country, Memphis soul, and Texas twang that tips its hat to everyone from Waylon and Willie (who makes an appearance) to Loretta and Dolly, while giving a middle finger to the pop that dominates modern country radio. Rich with swirling pedal steel, honky-tonk rhythms, and Price's hypnotic vocals, All American Made is deeply respectful of tradition while challenging conventions, a nuanced exploration of conflicting emotions for our deeply conflicted times.