Third Man Records (label)
15 April 2016 (released)
18 April 2016
From Wanda Jackson to Willie Nelson and Loretta Lynn, Jack White has shown through his label Third Man Records that he not only knows a little about country, but he also knows which artists are able to break the mould and push the boundaries of the genre. His latest artist, the much-hyped and US record-breaking artist Margo Price is no exception. Having spent many years in the band Buffalo Clover alongside her husband Jeremy Ivery, she proved one of Nashville's best kept secrets despite appearing with both Sturgill Simpson and Kenny Vaughan in Margo and the Pricetags. All that changed this year when even Saturday Night Live recognised her soulful vocal and helped catapult from little known artist's artist to international superstar almost overnight.
Although her success on the international stage has been somewhat whirlwind, her heartbreaking personal story - her Dad lost the farm she grew up, she headed to Nashville and chased an impossible dream then shacked up with a married man and did some hard-time and lost a child - is what makes her sound so rich in authenticity.
Although her album title pays tribute to Loretta Lynn, she is vocally a marriage of Cyndi Lauper, Shea Seger and Joan Osborne, Margo Price is an exciting artist who actually lives up the hype that surrounds her as she delivers her debut album Midwest Farmer's Daughter. Opening the collection with the six-minute long revelation Hands of Time, she speaks from her heart and proves herself an artist unashamed and unafraid of baring her heart and soul all warts and all. While many of her contemporaries are seeking fame and fortune, she just wants to right the wrongs she has witnessed and reclaim the farm her father lost.
Sonically Midwest Farmer's Daughter is a real fusion of country, rock and r'n'b and delivered with the soulful tinge that saw Chris Stapleton soar to award victory in 2015. Flitting from honky tonk fighting talk of About To Find Out through to whiskey swigging storyteller of Since You Put Me Down, these are songs that fit flawlessly into the old school country regime, while simultaneously slotting perfectly alongside many of the new Nashville artists.
As Price's story unravels throughout the album, it is when she is at her most personal that she shines the brightest. Midwest Farmer's Daughter does justice to the album to which it pays tribute. This is no copycat release. Margo may have taken note of the greats, but she is destined for greatness through her own hard work.
