Margo Price - “Stone Me”

SXSW 2020 - OEB Score: 9; Popularity Index: 8

Pairs Well With…Kacey Musgraves, Jade Bird, Maren Morris

There’s an Earth 2 where you turn on pop country radio and it sounds like Margo Price’s music and the world is a much better place. Steeped in traditional country and Americana, Price adds warm spirit and personal, relatable songwriting to her consistently gorgeous sound. Even on ramblers like “Don’t Say It”, a track that sounds somewhere between The Band and Dolly Parton, and whiskey-soaked “Weakness”, Price’s music is inherently sweet in tone. It’s messaged as well, from “Pay Gap” off her 2017 sophomore record All American Made to most recent single “Stone Me”, an empowering offering sharing there’s no way to break an artist who loves and respects who she is. There’s some cinematic, R&B-influenced production on “Stone Me” as well, a progression for Price and is truly one of the most moving among the many stirring stories in the Nashville artist’s catalog. There is even a hint of Fleetwood Mac type pop/rock here, a taste of what may come next from an artist progressing on an already pitch-perfect country sound. (Kevin McStravick)