That's How Rumors Get Started

Authenticity became a byword for the music of Margo Price, likely due to the dramatic story behind her 2016 debut album Midwest Farmer's Daughter. Self-funded and released on Jack White's Third Man Records, the album felt like a throwback to the glory days of outlaw country, a sound that enlivened and emphasized her hard-luck stories. Price sustained that vibe on 2017's All American Made but she started to broaden her purview, laying the groundwork for the lush, expansive That's How Rumors Get Started. Superficially, That's How Rumors Get Started appears to be the reverse image of the flinty Midwest Farmer's Daughter, swapping its lean immediacy for ornate arrangements that occasionally evoke memories of the early '80s, when New Wave country and album-oriented rock sometimes intermingled. Price rarely indulges in nostalgia or retro-fetishism, the vintage sounds function as coloring and texture on an album whose songs are clearly the work of the storyteller of Midwest Farmer's Daughter. Initially, though, the production is the arresting element of That's How Rumors Get Started. Price hired Sturgill Simpson as producer and he helped assemble a group of studio pros who are names in their own right, including keyboardist Benmont Tench, bassist Pino Palladino, and guitarist Matt Sweeney. The ensemble plays with an elegant elasticity throughout That's How Rumors Get Started, letting ballads swell to an emotional crescendo but also happy to settle into a country-soul groove or slather on the fuzz guitars, as they do on "Twinkle Twinkle." It's a disparate set of sounds, united by an AOR pulse and Price's sincerity; she may crack a joke, but she's never singing with a smirk. There's a confidence in her vocal performances that reflects the album's spirit: She's comfortable following her obsessions and idiosyncrasies to their logical end, resulting in a record that comforts and challenges in equal measure. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine