Margo Price is one of the undisputed rising stars of the country scene. Her story – from drug use, a spell in prison and one of homelessness, to the tragic loss of her infant son – means shes endured more than her share of pain, and can walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

A native of Aledo, Illinois, she moved to Tennesse at 20 and spent years trying to break into the country scene without success only for her debut album 2016’s Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, released through Jack White’s Third Man Records, to unexpectedly make it into the US country top ten, and she’s retained her outsider tag ever since.

Produced by Sturgill Simpson, That’s How Rumors Get Started is her third studio album, and had been due for release earlier in the year but was delayed by the Coronavirus outbreak.

Letting Me Down, the album’s lead single, is a glorious slice of rock and roll with a country flourish, driven by an incredible riff and carried by Price’s flawless vocals. It’s as perfect a radio song as country music can produce if only mainstream country radio would play it: her frequent absence from the playlists of such stations has been well documented.

Stone Me is a beautiful slow number in which Price reflects on her difficult past as she sings: “Sobriety is a hell of a drug / They say you only fight with the people you love / But I won't forget what it's like to be poor / I could be there again, baby that's for sure”.

Heartless Mind is a beguiling track, with an almost electro beat and a relentless tempo, while What Happened To Our Love? is a more traditional country number, with Price asking: “What is this life, and what does it mean? / Time, it runs out and rips at the seams / Like oil in water, hellfire and rain / We fight, we make up, just to make love again”.

Price packs a little bit of everything into That’s How Rumors Get Started despite it’s less than 45-minute run time, and all of it is good. She’s a storyteller and musician of real talent, and this might just be the record that carries her fully into the mainstream. Buy That’s How Rumors Get Started through Margo Price’s official website.

That’s How Rumors Get Started tracklist:

1. That’s How Rumors Get Started

2. Letting Me Down

3. Twinkle Twinkle

4. Stone Me

5. Hey Child

6. Heartless Mind

7. What Happened To Our Love?

8. Gone To Stay

9. Prisoner Of The Highway

10. I’d Die For You

Watch the official video for Letting Me Down below.

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Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.