Margo Price is celebrating her deep roots in country music on her upcoming album. On Tuesday, the musician announced that Hard Headed Woman, her fifth studio album, is out Aug. 29.
The musician made the LP — her first album in Nashville — at RCA Studio A alongside producer Matt Ross-Spang. The record features Jesse Welles on “Don’t Wake Me Up” and Tyler Childers on “Love Me Like You Used to Do,” along with the single “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down,” which dropped Tuesday with an accompanying music video. Filmed partly at Skinny Dennis in East Nashville, the clip finds Price running roughshod around town on a four-wheeler — which she then polishes and shines at a local car wash.
“With all that’s going on in the world, I hope this song will be a battle cry for the downtrodden and create unity and action for those facing oppression and hardship,” she said of the single.
The song was inspired by a phrase from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, as well as by what Kris Kristofferson whispered to Sinéad O’Connor when she was booed onstage at a Bob Dylan anniversary concert, according to a press release. (In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Eric Church also talked about Kristofferson’s famous words of support.)
“I always hope to do like Johnny Cash did, which is speak up for the common man and woman. But there have been so many threats and anger and vitriol over the years, when I am only coming from a place of love,” the singer said about the album. “So I made the decision to rebuild everything from the ground up.”
“I hope this album inspires people to be fearless and take chances and just be unabashedly themselves, in a culture that tries as hard as it can to beat us into all being the same,” Price added.
Price reconnected with Ross-Spang, who helped her make her first two albums, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter and All American Made, on the record. One of the songs on the album was written by Waylon Jennings about his wife Jessi Colter. The new album also follows Price’s pair of Strays albums, which dropped in 2023. The album featured singles like “Lydia” and “Change of Heart,” along with collaborations with Sharon Van Etten and Lucius.
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Hard Headed Woman track list
1. “Prelude {Hard Headed Woman}”
2. “Don’t Let The Bastards Get You Down”
3. “Red Eye Flight”
4. “Don’t Wake Me Up” feat. Jesse Welles
5. “Close To You”
6. “Nowhere Is Where”
7. “Losing Streak”
8. “I Just Don’t Give a Damn”
9. “Keep A Picture”
10. “Love Me Like You Used To Do” feat. Tyler Childers
11. “Wild At Heart”
12. “Kissing You Goodbye”