Margo Price – Midwest Farmer’s Daughter (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Margo Price – Midwest Farmer’s Daughter (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 40:02 minutes | 478 MB | Genre: Country
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Third Man Records LLC

Midwest Farmer’s Daughter isn’t merely an autobiographical title for the retro country singer/songwriter Margo Price, it’s a nice tip of the hat to one of her primary inspirations, Loretta Lynn. The connections between the two country singers don’t end there. Toward the end of her career, the Coal Miner’s Daughter wound up collaborating with Jack White for 2004’s Van Lear Rose, and White’s Third Man Records provides a launching pad for Price, releasing her self-financed solo debut as-is as Midwest Farmer’s Daughter. Spare and lean like Loretta in her prime, Price nevertheless writes with the studied precision of a modern Americana songwriter; even when she gets explicitly autobiographical, as she does on the opening “Hands of Time,” it doesn’t play as confession ripped from the soul, it plays as poetry. Similarly, when she tightens the screws so her song turns into something sleek, it doesn’t play as Music City precision, it feels savvy and personal, surprising with its light hint of funk and Price’s clear, plaintive, and powerful vocal. This tension between the head and heart, between the country and the city, is what fuels Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, placing it on a warm, hazy plane that feels simultaneously sophisticated and down-home. Part of this dichotomy is due to Price’s singing: she sounds like the Illinois girl that she is, possessing a voice that’s pretty, plain, and unadorned, carrying an innocence that cuts against the worldliness of her songs. Her band, though, provides her songs with a genuine honky tonk kick, but even when the album drifts toward the traditional — as it does on “Hurtin’ (On the Bottle)” or “Four Years of Chances” — Price’s sensibility is modern, turning these old-fashioned tales of heartbreak, love, loss, and perseverance into something fresh and affecting.

Having exhausted every angle in pop and rock over the past few years, the country scene seems to have finally decided to return to its roots. Margo Price is another name to add to a list alongside the likes of Kacey Musgraves and Sturgill Simpson, among others. A native of Aledo, Illinois, the young damsel has already been lucky enough to be hand picked by a certain Jack White to sign with his label, Third Man Records. Being in favour with the former leader of the White Stripes will bring her some extra spotlight she most certainly deserves… This first solo album however, is by no means the 32-year-old singers first venture in music. She landed in Nashville after finishing high school in 2003, where she met her future husband, bassist Jeremy Ivey. The couple when on to form the (somewhat) obscure Buffalo Clover Group. Three self-produced later albums, and a tsunami of misfortunes which included (the death of her son, time spent in prison, problems with alcohol, anxiety and depression, among others), Margo Price advanced alone with this disc put together in the Mecca of rock music, the legendary Sun studios. To the listener, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter – an obvious nod to Coal Miner’s Daughter by Loretta Lynn – sees price walk in the footsteps of the great ladies of the eternal country. Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker… Musically, the approach is quite purist and reminiscent of the glorious country of the seventies. Some honkytonk, rockabilly, and blues twang – Margo Price sings her songs with conviction and sincerity. A truly beautiful album, and a worth Qobuzism! – Marc Zisman

Tracklist:
1-1. Margo Price – Hands of Time (06:09)
1-2. Margo Price – About to Find Out (03:12)
1-3. Margo Price – Tennessee Song (04:40)
1-4. Margo Price – Since You Put Me Down (04:53)
1-5. Margo Price – Four Years of Chances (02:55)
1-6. Margo Price – This Town Gets Around (04:33)
1-7. Margo Price – How the Mighty Have Fallen (03:11)
1-8. Margo Price – Weekender (04:40)
1-9. Margo Price – Hurtin’ (On the Bottle) (04:12)
1-10. Margo Price – World’s Greatest Loser (01:33)

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