Margo Price seemed like something of a throwback when she delivered her debut, Midwest Farmer's Daughter, in 2016. Picking up where Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and Emmylou Harris left off, Price also recalled singer/songwriters from the dawn of the 1970s: she had an eye for idiosyncratic details and a knack for narratives, qualities that kept her brand of traditionalism from seeming like nostalgia. After Midwest Farmer's Daughter established her as a powerful figure within Americana, she quickly extended her musical reach on 2017's All American Made, moving further in a rock direction with That's How Rumors Get Started, a 2020 album produced by Sturgill Simpson. By the time she released Strays in early 2023, it was clear that Price was as much a rock artist as she was country, and her fusion of the two styles was fresh and unpredictable.

Price is a Nashville transplant who originally hails from the Midwest. A native of Aledo, Illinois -- a small town near the state's western border -- she grew up singing in church and wound up studying dance and theater while in college. Once she reached the age of 20 in 2003, she decided to drop out and head to Nashville, where she slowly started building a musical career while working odd jobs. She met a bassist named Jeremy Ivey, and soon the two formed the group Buffalo Clover; the pair would later marry. Between 2010 and 2013, Buffalo Clover released three independent albums. Once this band split, Price assembled Margo & the Pricetags, a group with a revolving lineup that sometimes featured future alt-country star Sturgill Simpson.

Price financed a solo album that she recorded at Sun Studios in 2015 and, after hearing through the Nashville grapevine that Jack White was a fan of hers -- he spotted her at local showcases -- she sent him the album. Impressed, White signed Price to Third Man Records and released the album as Midwest Farmer's Daughter in March 2016 -- the LP garnered nearly unanimous critical accolades.

In July 2017, Price released the four-track Weakness EP, whose title song wound up as the first single from her second album, All American Made, which appeared in October of that year. The record featured a guest performance from Willie Nelson on the track "Learning to Lose." All American Made peaked at 12 on Billboard's Country charts and helped elevate Price's profile, culminating in a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 2019. After receiving this nod, she moved to Lomo Vista Records and began working on her third album, which was produced by Sturgill Simpson. Featuring cameos by Benmont Tench and Pino Palladino, the resulting That's How Rumors Get Started was delayed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading her to issue Perfectly Imperfect at the Ryman, a live album documenting her 2018 stint at the legendary Nashville venue, that May. That's How Rumors Get Started appeared in July 2020, debuting at 17 on Billboard's Country charts and 151 on its Top 200.

Price published her autobiography Maybe We'll Make It: A Memoir in 2022, just a matter of months before the January 13, 2023 release of her fourth album, Strays. Co-produced by Jonathan Wilson, who previously worked with Father John Misty, the record found Price further incorporating elements of rock, soul, and indie pop, a fusion she created with the assistance of guests Mike Campbell, Sharon Van Etten, and Lucius. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine