Margo Price On The Mysterious Process Of Album-Making And Motherhood

The day Margo Price walked into the studio to start recording her new album, That’s How Rumors Get Started, she had butterflies in her stomach, a mixture of excitement, trepidation — and morning sickness.

“I definitely was not expecting to be pregnant,” she says. “I had planned to go into the studio regardless of what was happening in my personal life.”

Margo Price has been at home in Nashville trying to keep her feet on the ground. “If you let things like fame or money cloud your mind and poison your spirit, I think your art will really suffer,” she says. CREDIT: Bobbi Rich/Courtesy of the artist

Her daughter Ramona was born last June — and her new album is now out in the world, too. Price says that the two processes, making an album and having a baby, were eerily similar.

“I think when you’re making art and you’re creating something, you have this feeling of protection,” she says. “You keep it to yourself at first, and it’s evolving and growing and changing. And the same [can be said] when you’re carrying a baby. It’s such a process that it’s really hard to describe either one. I think they’re both kind of mysterious in their own way. It’s something that’s just so personal.”

NPR’s Ailsa Chang spoke to Margo Price about staying positive in quarantine and being present for her daughter’s developmental milestones, how the challenges of her life so far have made her the musician she is today and how she wants to prove to her children with her career that they can’t give up on their dreams. Listen in the audio player above.

Noah Caldwell and Patrick Jarenwattananon produced and edited the audio of this interview.