Sunday ACL Fest Record Reviews

Three minutes into her debut album, Margo Price plunges listeners to the depths of her misery: Dad lost the farm, she can't catch a break in Nashville, she lost her firstborn child, and no amount of booze can quell the anguish. The Third Man Records upstart turns this misfortune into motivation on Midwest Farmer's Daughter, hellbent on making a name for herself and buying back that farm. Price attacks the superficiality of Music Row and extends a gleeful middle finger to an ex-lover, all to the tune of honky-tonk rhythms, weeping fiddles, and barroom lap steel guitar. Underneath the blustery sass and cynicism sparkles a tender human being still nursing old wounds. "I killed the angel on my shoulder with a fifth of Evan Williams when I found out you were never coming home," she croons on "Since You Put Me Down" with a candidness rarely heard on modern country radio. (3pm, HomeAway stage)