Margo Price has just launched the Gibson Margo Price J-45, a unique Cherry burst double-pickguard design inspired by her own treasured vintage Gibson. I caught her on the phone from her home in Nashville, Tennessee and we discussed the new guitar, as well as old guitars, new band members, covering Kris Kristofferson at Luck Reunion, collaborating with Billy Strings, and more.
American Songwriter: I just wanted to say congrats on the new guitar launch. It looks super awesome. I got to actually take a look at it at NAMM in the Gibson Speakeasy. So I'm just really excited for you. It's a really gorgeous design.
Margo Price: Thank you so much. I’m so glad they had it at NAMM, and that people could play it—it's been hard to keep this a secret cause I've been so excited about it.
We've played it on stage a few times, like my husband was playing it a little bit, but I was like, I don't wanna put it out there before it's officially out there, so.
AS: And certainly some people would notice, because it’s a really unique design. Like, you've got the slope-shoulder J-45 shape, but then you've got the double pickguards with the bird design. It's like a greatest hits of Gibson acoustic design. Did you kind of dream the whole thing up yourself, or what was the design process like?
MP: It was definitely collaborative, with Robi Johns and Codey Allen at Gibson, and going out to the Gibson acoustic factory in Bozeman, Montana and kind of getting my hands on some of those guitars and just really getting a feel for like, different woods we wanted. I think Robi is just so knowledgeable at what he does.
At first, I was kind of like, "oh, maybe we should make this, you know, this little LG-3 that I have," a 1956 LG-3 that I've just loved, and it's such a nice guitar for sitting around picking, but Robi was like, "you have that J-45 in your hands all the time."
Like, “we cannot have it not be the J-45,” and I was like, “okay, true,” and I'm planning on playing this on stage, so it feels right.
AS: That's what I had read—that it was inspired by your own J-45. What's the story behind that original J-45 of yours, and what inspired you to play Gibson guitars in the first place?
MP: Definitely seeing, you know, Bob Dylan, who's just my all-time favorite songwriter, artist, everything. I saw so many folk and country artists, all the songwriters, they had the J-45. Whether it was like, Lucinda Williams, or Gillian Welch, or, you know, John Lennon. I was drawn to it because of the artists that I admired before me. And I also was drawn to it because the first thing I did when I got my check from Third Man Records was go out and get the vintage guitar of my dreams.
I'd never been able to afford something that was just completely my taste, you know, if I had no real limits on spending. I picked up a couple Martins and played them, and then as soon as I grabbed that J-45 and you know, the ‘65 has it's got a pretty small neck on it. And but it just, you know, it cut through, it rang.
You know, the sound of it was still nice and neat and bright, and I mean, yeah, it's made for working, you know, it's like the workhorse guitar, and it's it just was like, okay, this is the one.
So, I mean, I did go look around at a couple of other places, but then within that day I came back and got it before 6 PM.
AS: You mentioned another guitar, too, a 1956 LG-3. Is that more of your songwriting guitar, then? Do you ascribe to the belief that certain instruments have inspirational powers when it comes to songwriting? Or do you just write on any old thing that's lying around?
MP: Well, typically I write on my guitar, but we have all sorts of different guitars hanging up around the house, so depending on what room you're hiding in trying to get some privacy, kind of depends on what guitar you'll pick up. And I have that 1956 LG-3 hanging in my living room, kind of by my piano, but then in my bedroom, I usually have my guitar kind of right there. And then my husband, he's got his Martin that he plays.
But that first Gibson that I got, it was a family heirloom. It had been handed down by my great uncle who was a songwriter, he’s still alive, he lived in Nashville. His name is Bobby Fisher and he had cuts by George Jones, by Tanya Tucker, by Charley Pride, and just had this career that I really looked up to.
And so that guitar kind of came by way of him. When I was in my 20s and my early 30s, that was the guitar that I played, but the neck on it has been snapped and it's had a lot of work done, so I can't travel with it—like it doesn't leave the home. And even my ‘65 J-45, I've been increasingly worried about traveling with it.
Like, I don't know if you saw Madi Diaz’s guitar, I believe it got smashed going through an airport and it was a vintage guitar. And it's like, you know, you get these cases that are like thousands and thousands of dollars and then it's like, you just cannot trust TSA.
It's so scary, so, yeah, I do get worried about bringing my vintage instruments, especially when it's a fly date and I'm not on the bus. Cause you just can't replace things like that.
AS: Well, now you have this amazing gorgeous signature guitar that you could travel around and play with.
MP: Yeah. I absolutely am gonna be playing this. Coming up, I've got a gig at Jazz Fest and I've already got plans to to bring this one out on the road, since it's live now, they can tell people.
AS: Speaking of your gigs, I saw that you just did a surprise appearance with Chaparelle at the Willie Nelson's Luck Reunion, doing a Kris Kristofferson tribute. How did that come about?
MP: So, you know, I'm kind of family with all those folks down at Luck, Willie and Annie. And it was about just a week or two prior to Luck happening, and I got a call, they said, "hey, do you wanna come do a Kris tune?" And so I jumped out on a plane, I was there for about 24 hours or less. And then I just got to sit in with Lucinda Williams, I got to sit in with Grace Bowers. And Willie, of course, and Chaparelle, and do a little event there with Farm Aid.
I just love Texas so much and I've really missed the way South by Southwest used to be. But Luck Reunion is just one of those really special events. I only got two hours of sleep before I had to fly out to the Gibson Garage thing, but like, it was worth it.
AS: I saw that you had Logan Ledger in your band at the Gibson thing too.
MP: Yes, I do! I have a new band. I have a new lineup of players. And you know, I’ve been with my band the Price Tags for like, 13 years. and just love them all so much, but we have disbanded. I've got Logan Ledger singing and playing guitar with me. I've got Sean Thompson, just an absolutely incredible guitarist. Libby Weitnauer is playing fiddle and also does vocals. And I've got Alec Newnam on bass and Chris Gelb on drums, so it's gonna be a fun year to get out and see the band and I.
AS: Dude, that is so awesome. Logan Ledger, you can’t ask for a better secret weapon. That voice is like, unreal.
MP: Oh my gosh. He’s just incredible. We did a couple pop-up shows at some dive bars in Nashville. And, oh, he's just—he is such an incredible songwriter and singer and, I want more people to know him, so I told him, I was like, “I know you're not gonna be able to, you know, play in my band forever,” but I think he's getting to be out with me for the whole entire year, and maybe longer. So I hope that is incentive for people to come out and hear us, doing George and Tammy duets, George and Melba duets. Yeah, it’s gonna be so fun.
AS: Yes, that's so cool. Closest thing to the real George Jones that you could get in this world, I think.
MP: Yeah, he's on another level, and I just think the world of him, I'm so glad that he's gonna be out there. He's a great picker too.
AS: Oh, yeah. Speaking of great pickers, your collaboration with Billy Strings that you did pretty recently “Too Stoned To Cry” is a pretty major tune. It's awesome. What was it like collaborating with Billy?
MP: Thank you. It was so much fun. I've been lucky enough to kind of see his star rise. We met back at Winter Wondergrass and he sat in with me, this was like pre-pandemic. I feel like this was like, 2019 or something.
And I'm just such a massive fan of his playing and I mean, everything, but I feel like his vocal on “Too Stoned To Cry” is just like, another side of him that is—I mean, it goes hard.
AS: It's so good, right?
MP: I was really blown away by how the song came together, and just really having him on it gave it everything it needed. I can't say enough about him. Like, incredible work ethic, and just also a kindred spirit, you know, somebody who's California sober and out there living the life on the road, having a kid. Yeah. He's a good one.
AS: Awesome. Yeah, safe to say that you definitely have a savvy, a special knack for collaborations and brand partnerships. Are there any intentions you want to put out there into the world for, I don't know, maybe a drum kit? What's next?
MP: Yeah! I absolutely would love to have a drum kit sponsorship. And like, a tambourine sponsorship. Like, I don't know many people that play the tambourine as well as I do [Laughs]. Not to brag, but it's a kind of an underrated skill. I love those vintage Ludwig tambourines that are from the ‘70s, and like, they're so thick and they're just so amazing.
I break tambourines, like on my leg and on my hands, more frequently than you would think. Like plastic ones, wood ones. So yeah, I need Ludwig to hit me up about that and maybe like, Gretsch, I’m just throwing it out there. Maybe I can get my own drum kit.
AS: You just posted a story to your Substack about women’s role in the history of Gibson acoustic guitars. Can you give us a little rundown here for those who haven't gotten a chance to read it yet?
MP: Yes. During World War II, there were women building [Gibson] guitars. This beautiful book, it's called Kalamazoo Gals—that's where I've gotten a lot of my information on this particular subject—but from what I believe, Gibson didn't maybe necessarily want people to know that the guitars were made by women, because nobody would want to buy them.
And so, you know, it kind of goes into a bit of that. There's only ten women that were left that actually worked in the factory at that time, and so he [the author] talks with them and they give their experience. And I think it's such a shame that, you know, in that moment we didn't really embrace women stepping out and coming to work in the factories while the men were off at war, because I think we would have gotten a lot more instruments into the hands of young women and girls.
I think even today, you don't have a lot of people that say they want to be a musician when they grow up anymore. It's like, “oh, I want to be a YouTuber or an influencer.” And you're seeing kids walking around with devices and just like glued to their screens, and I'm like, let's get instruments back into the hands of our youth, like, girls and boys alike, and adults, too.
It's really never too late to learn an instrument. I just started taking fiddle lessons with my daughter, who’s five. And I got my first song down. I've only had like five or six lessons and it doesn't sound the greatest, but I can play Liza Jane on the fiddle.
AS: Yeah, no kidding, right? It's like you have to be able to do something on YouTube. So it's better to have some kind of skill that you can show people.
MP: I know. I really hope that the youth will pull their head out from their phone. Like John Prine said, "blow up your TV"—let's blow up our iPhones, and everybody can come back to the real world and just like have time to daydream and, you know, invent things. You need that boredom to have any sort of creation.
And I just thank God every day I was born in the 1980s and grew up in the 1990s, it was like the last golden age of having a childhood that was just kind of feral and in nature and you know, painting and sitting in front of a piano instead of an iPad.
The Gibson Margo Price J-45 is available at Gibson.com.
Thank you for mentioning the Kalamazoo Gals and my book about them!