Margo Price has readied a follow-up to her January album Strays, naturally dubbed Strays II. She’ll roll out the sequel project in three acts culminating in a double album due out October 13th, and also embark on a tour of the UK and US this fall. What’s more, the three songs comprising Act I: Topanga Canyon are out now.
Strays had a pretty mystical origin story involving a psychedelic trip to the South Carolina countryside, and Price wrote some of the music that would become Strays II during the same excursion. Before combining the two projects into a double LP, the nine songs on the second record will initially be shared as three acts known as Topanga Canyon, Mind Travel, and Burn Whatever’s Left.
Out today is Strays II’s Act I: Topanga Canyon, featuring the tracks “Strays,” “Closer I Get (ft. Ny Oh),” and “Malibu (ft. Jonathan Wilson and Buck Meek).” In a statement, Price offered context about each of the songs.
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“The title track is the story of how my husband Jeremy and I met and fell in love in Nashville two decades ago,” Price said. “I wrote most of the words and Jeremy wrote the chords and melody. It also reflects how we have always tried to stay true to who we are as people: ‘Love and pain it comes in waves but it was quite enough in those early days, we were wild as wolves my darlin’, we were strays.’”
Price co-wrote “Closer I Get” with her husband, sharing that the track “was originally meant to open this double album with the line, ‘Being alive costs a lot of money but so does dying.’ I’ve always thought it was unfair that the moment we are born, we immediately start racking up debt just for existing. This song was conjured from the ashes of our initial psychedelic trip — sometimes your perception and depth of field changes depending on where you’re at in life.”
Final Act I track “‘Malibu’ was written with Mike Campbell in his Malibu home after Jeremy and I had driven through the canyon fleeing a forest fire to get my guitar from our Airbnb,” Price explained. “I had the start of the song and brought it to him looking to finish it out. I wanted to write something with a country funk/Bobbie Gentry feel, a good long rambling story about the minutiae of the day, like ‘Ode to Billy Joe.’ Mike added the long ‘California’ yodel and the bridge and was exactly what the song needed. My favorite line is ‘love and grief are a package deal, the more you have, the more you feel.’”
Check out the first three songs from Strays II below. Come November 10th, the album will be released as its own vinyl; pre-orders for that are ongoing.
This week, Price will perform a run of shows in the UK before heading back to the States for gigs with Chris Stapleton, S.G. Goodman, Brit Taylor, and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. See her full tour itinerary below, and grab tickets to a show via Ticketmaster.
Revisit our interview with Price about the release of Strays here.
Strays II Artwork:
Strays II Tracklist:
Act I: Topanga Canyon
01. Strays
02. Closer I Get (feat. Ny Oh)
03. Malibu (feat. Jonathan Wilson, Buck Meek)
Act II: Mind Travel
04. Black Wolf Blues
05. Mind Travel
06. Unoriginal Sin (feat. Mike Campbell)
Act III: Burn Whatever’s Left
07. Homesick (feat. Jonathan Wilson)
08. Where Did We Go Wrong
09. Burn Whatever’s Left
Margo Price 2023 Tour Dates:
08/24 — London, UK @ Rough Trade East
08/25 — London, UK @ Lafayette
08/26 — Leicestershire, UK @ The Long Road
09/08 — Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch Music Festival
09/09 — Bristol, TN @ Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion
09/10 — Lexington, KY @ The Burl County Fair
09/11 — St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall #
09/12 — Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom #
09/14 — Bloomington, IN @ The Castle Theatre #
09/15 — Madison, WI @ Live On King Street #
09/16 — Bayfield, WI @ Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua #
09/17 — Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s #
09/22 — Camden, NJ @ XPoNential Music Festival
09/23 — Noblesville, IN @ Farm Aid
09/24 — Franklin, TN @ Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival
09/28 — Harrisburg, PA @ Harrisburg University (XL Live) ^
09/29 — Northampton, MA @ Academy of Music ^
09/30 — North Truro, MA @ Payomet Performing Arts Center ^
10/01 — Bridgeport, CT @ Sound on Sound
10/03 — Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom ^
10/05 — Charlottesville, VA @ John Paul Jones Arena *
10/06 — University Park, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center *
10/07 — Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena *
10/27 — Huntsville, AL @ Orion Amphitheater !
11/03 — Scottsdale, AZ @ Dreamy Draw
* = w/ Chris Stapleton
# = w/ S.G. Goodman
^ = w/ Brit Taylor
! = w/ Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit