Margo Price has got nothing to prove, and nothing to promote but the truth. Today, with the release of new single and video “Been To The Mountain,” she takes both a hard look at the past and a firm step into the future. She has been a lover, a queen and a drifter, a cowboy devil, a bride and a boxer; a child, mother and even a number. Over a flurry of fuzzed-out guitar, she belts about being on food stamps, rolling in dirty dollars and standing in the welfare line. But across five and half minutes of the song’s unflappable groove, underlined by organ, harpsichord, and a soul-stirring, spoken-word breakdown in the bridge, Price previews another stronger, freer side of herself that will soon be seen.
“Been To The Mountain” was produced by Jonathan Wilson (Angel Olsen, Father John Misty), written by Margo Price and Jeremey Ivey, and recorded during a blissful week they spent at Fivestar Studios in California’s Topanga Canyon. With a scorching sound that expands upon the rock n roll roots Price showcased on 2020’s widely acclaimed That’s How Rumors Get Started, the song is accompanied by a mind-altering, mushroom trip of a music video directed by Courtney Hoffman and shot in Los Angeles.
“‘Been To The Mountain’ is part one of an introspective trip into our subconscious. It is the perfect continuation of my search for freedom in my art and freedom in the modern age,” says Margo Price. “I have a lot of high hopes for this next chapter and truly believe this is the most exciting music I’ve ever made in the studio with my band. We have all grown so much, we operate like one single organism – it’s telepathic. Courtney Hoffman brought my wild visions to life with the help of an incredible cast and crew in the music video. I wanted the story’s hypothetical 8 to 12 hour window to feel like a mini-lifetime. We also wanted to portray how an intense psychedelic experience has the potential to become a spiritual experience, and how that can change your perception of the world around you.”
In addition to unveiling “Been To The Mountain,” Margo Price is proud to announce her own Sonos Radio podcast, Runaway Horses. Beginning today with an inspiring interview from Emmylou Harris, the series will see Price host raw, cathartic conversations with artists who aren’t afraid to break the mold and follow their own path. All six of the episodes in this first season are about the search for freedom through music and the shared human experience, featuring influences, heroes and contemporaries like Amythyst Kiah, Swamp Dogg, Bob Weir, Bettye LaVette and Lucius. New installments of Runaway Horses will be released weekly for the next five Thursdays, and are available on Sonos Radio in the Sonos app, the Sonos Radio website and all major podcast platforms.
On the launch of Runaway Horses, which evolved out of an internet radio program she started live-streaming in the earliest days of the COVID-19 lockdown, Margo Price says, “The thing about runaway horses is that you can really never truly break them. They are incredibly unpredictable. You never know what they’re going to do next. I’m calling this show ‘Runaway Horses’ because wild freedom is exactly what I crave from music — I just want a complete and total release. I hope that the conversations on this show help you feel a sense of freedom, too.”
In the coming months, Margo Price will continue a busy year of touring with performances at Sacred Rose, Born and Raised and other festival appearances, plus Red Rocks with Wilco, and Farm Aid, where she recently became the first-ever female artist elected to the Board of Directors. She will also embark on a national book tour throughout October and November, in support of her forthcoming, debut memoir, Maybe We’ll Make It. Out October 4th on University of Texas Press, it tells a story of loyalty, loss, grief and forgiveness, from moving to Nashville with $57, to losing one of her newborn twin boys, pawning her wedding ring and facing rejection by almost every record label in town, to eventually reclaiming her power, freeing herself from substance abuse, and fighting for the opportunity to be herself in the music business. “Margo’s book hits you right in the gut – and the heart – just like her songs,” says Willie Nelson.
