Although Margo Price has long seen herself a counterculture – especially in Nashville’s country scene – she spent the pandemic like many people: stuck at home and patiently waiting for it to be over.
“It’s like the carpet has been pulled out from under me,” Ms. Price, 37, said in a recent telephone interview. “I felt like this third album was going to be so fun to tour and play at festivals and I had taken so much time just after having a baby. I was really ready to go back to work. “
Her third studio album, This is How Rumors Begin, was released in July, but on May 28th she will be able to play it live for the first time at an outdoor concert in Nashville.
Ms. Price is among many hopeful musicians working with venues that offer space for social distancing.
“The arts in general have big problems,” she said, “and we need to find a way to get back there and preserve the venues where we all play.”
And even during this pandemic, when she was raising her two children with husband Jeremy Ivey and writing a memoir, Ms. Price was in the studio and left the studio and recorded two albums.
“I’m a student of all things that are close to the ground – roots music, folk, blues, soul,” said Ms. Price of her new music. “I want to have enough genres so that people can’t go into one thing exactly.”
The interviews are conducted by email, text and telephone, then compressed and processed.
Monday
7am I wake up and drink lemon water followed by black coffee. I make the kids waffles and take my 10 year old son Judah to Montessori school. For the next few hours I play with my 1½ year old daughter Ramona.
9 am I dress Miles Davis and make a fire in the fireplace. We stretch and dance and play with puzzles before going outside to enjoy the sunshine.
10:30 am I’m going to the Cash Cabin in Hendersonville. I’ve worked on two albums, being in the studio made sense to me while I can’t play live shows.
11 clock Jeremy and I tune our guitars and do some warm-up exercises. We play through a song a couple of times to get a tempo and keep track of it. We can dub the rest of the band over later.
1:15 p.m. We take a lunch break around the fireplace that burns here around the clock.
14 o’clock We’re following two more songs.
3 pm Jeremy goes to pick up Judah. I stay to put guitar and vocals for another song.
17 o’clock I come home and take both kids for a walk to the local church while my husband cooks dinner. (He mainly cooks and is a phenomenal cook.)
17:30 We’re playing hide and seek in an abandoned church. They no longer have church services here, but our neighborhood pod uses it as a space to teach our children.
6:30 in the evening We sit down for a homemade dinner. In the last five days Jeremy recorded his next album so let’s celebrate he’s home.
19 o’clock I tidy up the dining table, wash the dishes, and throw in a load of laundry while Jeremy gives Ramona a bath. My mother, Candace, helps Judah read. she is I’ve been here a lot during the pandemic and we couldn’t do it without them!
8 p.m. I answer a few emails and catch up on work while Jeremy Ramona reads aloud.
8:30 p.m. Ramona comes out and says, “Mom, sing to me” – she just started speaking in full sentences a few weeks ago. She asks for “Up Above” (that’s what she calls “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”) and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.
9:30 p.m. Jeremy and I listen to some rough mixes of his songs.
22 O `clock We sit down to see “Nomadland”.
12:30 pm We go from the couch to the bed. We both fell asleep after the movie.
Tuesday
8:15 o’clock I wake up to a call even though I was planning to sleep in it. Jeremy and I tell each other about crazy, disjointed dreams.
9 am Ramona and I brush our teeth and hair. We play Legos while I help Jeremy write the lyrics to one of his songs.
9:45 o clock I run with my two dogs in a nearby state park.
11 clock. Jeremy and I just got to Frothy Monkey’s house to have breakfast outside on the patio. I’m working on my memoir for the next few hours – I’m on the second draft and have to submit it by the end of the month. (I’m on page 30 of about 500.)
13 o’clock I’m doing a Zoom interview with the Poptarts podcast for Bust Magazine.
14 o’clock I’ll start working on the book again. I’m having my fourth cup of coffee.
4 p.m. Ramona wakes up from her nap so we’re on our way. My neighbors own these two horses that are being rescued, so we like to feed them carrots.
5:45 p.m. Ramona draws, Jeremy cooks and I’m back to work on my book.
6:30 in the evening Jeremy cooked stir-fry vegetarian meals (rice, peppers, and oyster mushrooms that were grown by John Carter Cash and given to us when we were shooting there).
19 o’clock We watch Toy Story but the kids got distracted so we all run around the house wrestling to get some energy out.
8 p.m. I read Mona books and do bedtime while Jeremy helps Judah with homework.
21 clock Jeremy made a fire outside and I cracked some soda and rolled a joint. We sit out here and talk, listen to music and look at the stars.
Wednesday
7:30 a.m. Ramona is playing with magnets and I emptied a piggy bank so she could put the coins back in. That kept her busy for about an hour while I was making her breakfast.
8:45 a.m. Mona put on her red rubber rain boots and we go outside to enjoy the weather. The ice has almost completely melted and we are walking along the stream that runs in front of our house. We stop to throw stones in and splash around in the puddle.
10 am I’m driving to the Golden Hour Salon for my first haircut since the pandemic started.
Noon I still drink coffee at home. I edited my book in a large walk-in closet that we converted into a part-time office.
1:30 p.m. Jeremy took Ramona to the pediatrician to get vaccinated.
14 o’clock I used the empty house and worked on a song. It’s so beautiful today so I took a guitar outside and practiced finger picking while listening to the birds.
4 p.m. Everyone is at home and we hang out on the couch and read. Judah carves and grinds a stick he found – he wants to make a sword.
17 o’clock Jeremy and I pick up some suits from a place on Music Row called Any Old Iron. It is owned by a local designer, Andrew Clancey, whose designs and beads are so psychedelic and artistic. I admire him. (He also makes great sequin and rhinestone masks.)
6:15 pm We pick up dinner at Superica, a great Tex-Mex restaurant where I always order the shrimp tacos. You are wickedly good.
19 o’clock My mom has put Ramona to bed since she missed her nap, so Jeremy and I read to Judah. It’s nice to give him extra attention when we can because the toddler is asking so much.
8:30 p.m. I pour some tea and take a bath.
9:30 p.m. I’ve turned on the new Unsolved Puzzles, and I’m doing some stretching and free weight workouts. I went to the gym all the time, but since the pandemic, I’ve forced myself to work out at home.
Thursday
8 o’clock in the morning Ramona is not feeling well and has a bit of a fever so let’s let her watch some TV.
9:30 am My hair and makeup artist Tarryn is coming to help me do my hair for a photo shoot. This is only the third time I’ve had my hair or makeup done all year round.
11 clock The photographer arrived, set up a blue background, and took some photos very quickly.
Noon I have salmon for breakfast and have another cup of coffee.
13 o’clock Went outside to our picnic table and started editing my book.
14 o’clock I pick Mona up from the neighbors to take her down for a nap and a Covid test. I take one weekly just to be extra safe.
3:45 p.m. I’m back home and the kids are jumping on the trampoline outside.
4:45 p.m. Jeremy makes dinner and we make a fort.
5:45 p.m. We put on Billie Holiday and sit down to eat. We hold hands and Judah leads us to prayer. His prayer prayers almost always include the request that God help the homeless and end the coronavirus.
6:30 in the evening Judah and I went to the music room to play double drums. It makes a beat and I have to copy it and vice versa.
19:30 o’clock I read to Ramona while Jeremy and Judah made a fire and made S’Mores.
8:30 p.m. Both children are in bed. I go out to enjoy the fire and my friend joins in. We pick guitars and drink turmeric tea until 12:30 p.m.
Friday
8 o’clock in the morning Back with the kids and the morning routine. I make blueberry pancakes while Ramona plays with pots and pans. The house is really devastated – toys everywhere – but it’s Friday so I’m not worried about that. I’ll clean later.
9 am We go for a walk but are interrupted by the rain. Back inside we have FaceTime, my 90 year old grandmother. She hit Covid a few months ago but hasn’t been out of the nursing home for a year. We call them often to check in.
10 am Jeremy relieves me so that I can work on my book.
Noon Ate oatmeal for breakfast, thought of a text by John Prine, and came in to get a guitar.
13 o’clock Recorded a SiriusXM DJ takeover for a Canadian broadcaster called Northern Americana. I made a playlist for International Women’s Day.
2.30 Ramona woke up from her nap so we jump on the trampoline.
6 p.m. My mother took the children for a long walk, but everyone is back for dinner.
6:05 pm My daughter goes into a big tantrum (terrible twos come here early) so I spend some time calming her down. We take a deep breath and sit in a quiet room.
6:20 pm Finally I calm her down and sit down on a cold plate with delicious food.
19 o’clock I give Ramona a bath and distract her with washable crayons to paint on the bathtub while I sing and play the guitar. Jeremy and Judah play Zelda in his bedroom.
19:30 o’clock The toilet overflows, Jeremy fixes it with a few chosen four-letter words, I laugh.
8 p.m. We all read books, kiss each other on the forehead and say good night.
22 O `clock We switch on “Judas and the Black Messiah”. The house is trashed, but I don’t care – I’ve been cleaning all week and I’m tired. We can worry about that tomorrow.
