Nearly a decade after ‘Midwest Farmer’s Daughter’ established her as one of country’s most compelling outsiders, Margo Price delivers her most frustrating album yet. ‘Hard Headed Woman’ finds the Nashville firebrand retreating into something resembling tradition, trading the raw authenticity that made her essential for formulaic compositions that feel oddly hollow.
Recording at RCA Studio A with producer Matt Ross-Spang should have been a homecoming triumph. Instead, it highlights how Price has become overly comfortable with her established persona. The gospel-tinged prelude and Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down open with genuine fire — the latter’s disco-tinged groove and defiant chorus suggesting Price at her most vital.
Losing Streak, similarly, sparkles with life, its full-band arrangement allowing her vocals to soar while addressing mental struggle with hard-won wisdom.
But these glimpses of greatness only make the album’s failures more pronounced. Too many songs here feel like museum pieces.
They’re technically proficient recreations of what Margo Price songs should sound like rather than lived-in expressions of actual experience. The Tyler Childers duet Love Me Like You Used to Do epitomises this problem: it’s a flawless country song that somehow feels entirely lifeless, as if both artists are performing roles rather than revealing truths.
The album’s latter half becomes particularly tedious. Keep A Picture and Close To You drift by with pedestrian chord progressions and lyrics that mistake nostalgia for depth. Where Price once transformed personal pain into transcendent art, here she seems content to colour within the lines. Even when addressing weighty subjects, the songs feel predictably arranged, their pedal steel and fiddle deployed like country music signifiers rather than emotional tools.
Price remains a gifted vocalist, and Ross-Spang's production is immaculate, but ‘Hard Headed Woman’ commits the cardinal sin of being boring.
Margo Price Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Sat September 20 2025 - MINNEAPOLIS Minnesota - Huntington Bank Stadium (USA)
Fri September 26 2025 - LOS ANGELES California - GRAMMY Museum (USA)
Thu October 23 2025 - ST LOUIS Missouri - Delmar Hall (USA)
Fri October 24 2025 - KANSAS CITY Missouri - Saloon Stage at Knuckleheads - Complex (USA)
Sat October 25 2025 - BLOOMINGTON Illinois - Castle Theatre (USA)
Tue October 28 2025 - MADISON Wisconsin - Majestic Theatre - Wisconsin (USA)
Wed October 29 2025 - FARGO North Dakota - Sanctuary Events Center (USA)
Fri October 31 2025 - BOZEMAN Montana - Elm Bozeman (USA)
Sat November 01 2025 - JACKSON Wyoming - Jackson Center For The Arts (USA)
Sun November 02 2025 - MISSOULA Montana - Wilma Theatre (USA)
Tue November 04 2025 - VANCOUVER British Columbia - Hollywood Theatre (Canada)
Wed November 05 2025 - SEATTLE Washington - Neptune Theatre (USA)
Fri November 07 2025 - PORTLAND Oregon - Wonder Ballroom (USA)
Sat November 08 2025 - BOISE Idaho - Treefort Music Hall (USA)
Sun November 09 2025 - CRYSTAL BAY Nevada - Crown Room at Crystal Bay Casino - Complex (USA)
Tue November 11 2025 - SOUTH SALT LAKE Utah - Commonwealth Room - Salt Lake City (USA)
Wed November 12 2025 - ASPEN Colorado - Belly Up Aspen (USA)
Fri November 14 2025 - DALLAS Texas - Longhorn Ballroom (USA)
Sat November 15 2025 - AUSTIN Texas - Emos Austin (USA)
Sun November 16 2025 - HELOTES Texas - John T Floore Country Store (USA)
Tue November 18 2025 - ATLANTA Georgia - Variety Playhouse (USA)
Thu November 20 2025 - NASHVILLE Tennessee - Ryman Auditorium (USA)
Fri November 21 2025 - LOUISVILLE Kentucky - Headliners Music Hall Louisville (USA)
Sat November 22 2025 - DETROIT Michigan - Saint Andrews Hall - Complex (USA)
Sat February 14 2026 - BOONE North Carolina - Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts (USA)
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