Margo Price Reigns at the Ryman

Thursday night, Margo Price wrapped her winter tour following the January release of her fourth solo LP Strays with a homecoming show at the Ryman. Stating the facts makes it seem routine. But as Price has consistently reminded us in her songs, her shows and her memoir Maybe We’ll Make It, living on earth is rich and complicated. Her life in particular and the lives of anyone trying to survive the 21st century are a roller coaster of heartbreaks and triumphs; artistic expression is a vital tool for processing it that’s vastly undervalued. She headlined the Mother Church of Country Music for her fourth time, on her own terms and in full command of her wide-ranging psych-soul-country sound, which is nothing short of amazing.

When the lights went down, a single spotlight trained on Jeremy Ivey and his acoustic guitar. He quipped affably about being grateful to his wife and frequent musical collaborator Price for letting him play, saying he had a hard time getting on the calendar at The 5 Spot. He also joked about their son working the merch table alongside Price’s sister: “Don’t call the Department of Labor, we don’t pay him — only in tacos.”

Since 2019, Ivey has released three solo LPs, and he played a song or two from each. Pared back to his gentle vocals and understated fingerpicking, the haunted and haunting nature of the tunes came to the fore. He played a handful of songs from an album he’s working on, and Price came out to sing harmony and play tambourine on his final three: the poignant titular tune of Ivey’s first record The Dream and the Dreamer, a new country tune called “Your Memory Is Out Tonight,” and the couple’s rollicking one-off single “All Kinds of Blue.”

A short while later Price returned, leading outlaw country legend Jessi Colter to the piano at center stage. “It’s kinda scary to be back in Tennessee,” Colter said with a chuckle. “Margo came and pulled me off the desert.” Colter built up a head of steam as a solo artist in the early 1970s and shined along with Tompall Glaser, Willie Nelson and her husband Waylon Jennings as a member of The Outlaws. Though her records have been few and far between in the past 40 years, Colter recorded a new LP of originals with Price producing in 2019. Friday afternoon, word went out that Appalachia Record Co. is set to release the LP, called Edge of Forever, in September. 

Colter’s band was full of ringers, including steel master Brett Resnick and songsmith and multi-instrumentalist Lillie Mae on acoustic guitar. At the top of the set, you could tell they were still feeling their way around the tunes and playing together. I can’t tell you what it sounded like onstage, but the house mix was also all over the place early on. Eventually the ensemble gelled, the mix got dialed in, and the power of the new songs shined through. One standout was the lush ballad “The Secret Place,” which Colter wrote with her daughter Jenny Lynn Young, who was on hand to sing harmony. They wrapped the set with Colter’s melancholy breakthrough single “I’m Not Lisa” and a triumphant rendition of her propulsive “Why You Been Gone So Long” from Wanted! The Outlaws.

When the curtain came up, Price’s band — illuminated mostly by the liquid-lightshow-style animation projected on-screen behind them — came roaring out of the gate, playing Price to her mic with the gritty, Stooges-esque riff of Strays’ opening salvo “Been to the Mountain.” The set ebbed and flowed organically from the raucous and soulful “Four Years of Chances” from Price’s 2016 debut Midwest Farmer’s Daughter to the relaxed groove of Strays’ “Anytime You Call,” with The Watson Twins joining in for some synchronized dance moves and to sing harmony. Price’s second LP All American Made was her only solo release not represented in this set. 

As the liquid-lightshow-style animations danced on the projector screens, Price visited every corner of the stage, playing guitar, tambourine, cowbell and drums. Her band — bassist Kevin Black, drummer Dillon Napier, keyboard maestro Micah Hulscher, guitarist Jamie Davis and multi-instrumentalist Alex Munoz, with Ivey sitting in on 12-string acoustic — was a well-oiled machine. Over a run of more than 90 minutes, they followed every shift in mood and tone from the gentle and dreamy “Landfill,” to the anthemic “Radio” (which Price sang through the receiver of an old telephone), to a medley of “Hurtin’ (On the Bottle)” and “Whiskey River” with Mickey Raphael on harmonica, to the closing all-y’all-get-back-out-here sing-along, a cover of Wings’ ebullient “Let Me Roll It.” 

The most moving moment came midset when things got quiet and the band left the stage, replaced by a string quartet including cellist Larissa Maestro and violinist Chauntee Ross. As they settled in to back Price on “Lydia” — a stark, tender portrait of a woman pushed to the limit as every kind of safety net fails her — Price addressed the crowd, reflecting on the recent spate of anti-LGBTQ legislation that’s passed through the state legislature.

“I’ve lived in Tennessee for 20 years, and one day I’ll probably be buried here,” Price said. “I may not get along with all the policies and the politics, but I love this state.” 

The avalanche of news about hateful, backward-ass policies that threaten our queer neighbors is frustrating and exhausting. Seeing people — especially those with big platforms that they’re not afraid to use — gathering their resources to push back is a serious shot in the arm.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly indicated that Price had been announced to perform at the March 20 Love Rising benefit at Bridgestone Arena. We regret the error.