Margo Price and Jeremy Ivey are both artists, songwriters, and are married with kids. They've released records on Loma Vista, Anti-, Third Man and independently, and under Margo's project have been nominated for a Grammy, played SNL, won awards, and more. We talk about balancing the many rolls in their lives, both together and independently, creating together while also parenting together, going from having a band together (Buffalo Clover) to 'separate' careers, and so many metaphors from table settings to orange soda.
Margo Price and Jeremy Ivey are both artists, songwriters, and are married with kids. They've released records on Loma Vista, Anti-, Third Man and independently, and under Margo's project have been nominated for a Grammy, played SNL, won awards, and more. We talk about balancing the many rolls in their lives, both together and independently, creating together while also parenting together, going from having a band together (Buffalo Clover) to 'separate' careers, and so many metaphors from table settings to orange soda.
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All music written, performed, and produced by Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
[00:00:09] Aaron: Hello and welcome to the first episode of season two of The Other 22 Hours podcast. I'm your host, Aaron Shafer-Haiss.
[00:00:14] Michaela: And I'm your host, Michaela Anne.
And we're so excited to be back for year two. Thank you for joining us. If this is your first time, thank you for coming back if you're a return listener.
[00:00:23] Aaron: Yeah, before we jump into the episode, we just have a few quick asks If you are a returning listener and you already know that you like our show and what we offer, If you wouldn't mind just taking a second to A. rate us on your listening platform of choice or be subscribed to our show on there.
Both of those are great ways to let the algorithm know that our show is worth it and let prospective listeners know that we're worth an hour of their time. And the last one, if you really know you like what we do and you want a little bit more, we have started a Patreon and there you get. Behind the scenes access, some exclusive content, you get advanced notice of who our guests are going to be so that you can have your questions answered by them, and just general community with other creatives just like you.
So you can check that out at the link in our show notes or by going. to theother22hours. com and clicking on Patreon.
[00:01:11] Michaela: And we're not music journalists. We are musicians ourselves, so we really pride ourselves on being able to have really vulnerable, in depth, honest conversations because a lot of these guests are friends or acquaintances, so it's just like hanging out at a dinner table and getting to have a realistic view of what life is like as an artist in the
[00:01:31] Aaron: music industry.
and as we all know building a career around your art And trying to navigate a career in the music industry, there is a lot that is outside of our control.
And so with this show, we like to focus on what is within our control, and that's our mindsets, our habits, our creativity. And we've, over time, distilled that down to the question, What do you do to create sustainability in your life so that you can sustain creativity? And today we got to ask that question of Margot Price and Jeremy Ivey.
[00:02:00] Michaela: Margo and Jeremy are a married couple. They are parents. They've been together for 20 years, they said. We met them basically within the first month of moving to
[00:02:12] Aaron: Nashville 10 years ago. Back before any of us were really doing much of anything besides drinking a lot and playing at bars. Um,
[00:02:19] Michaela: But they both have just the past decade has been pretty epic for them.
Storied careers. Margo has received Grammy nominations, appeared on every single late night television show. SNL, won Americana Association Awards, Jeremy and Margot Wright together, play in Margot's band together. Jeremy has had solo records on Anti and it was so great to get to talk to them about how they've navigated playing in a band together, having solo careers, one having perceived greater outside success, how you do all of that,
[00:02:56] Aaron: jealousy.
Yeah, a whole myriad of things. So with that,
[00:03:00] Michaela: here's our conversation with Margo Price and Jeremy Ivey.
Thank you guys for making time to do this. We're really excited
[00:03:06] Margo: course. Yeah.
[00:03:07] Michaela: to talk to you.
[00:03:08] Margo: You for having us to
[00:03:09] Michaela: yeah, we've explained like what the premise is of just like being honest about what it's like to have lives built around your music careers.
And we feel like you guys are ideal guests because historically and publicly, you're very honest about. Everything is
[00:03:26] Aaron and Michaela: a fault
[00:03:30] Michaela: But that's the whole point of like we both were just like man it feels like everybody's putting forth this farce on Line that it's always just the highlights and how great everything is and behind the scenes We keep having conversations with people even those that seem like they're In a good phase or a successful phase of how hard it is, how hard financially, mentally, emotionally, all that stuff.
So we just wanted to talk about like what are we all learning for how we cope and to know that We're not the only ones that deal with this stuff and how to help that and we get a lot of feedback from people wanting to hear more about the dynamic of both being artists and being in a relationship and raising kids in this life,
[00:04:12] Jeremy: You were talking about being honest and I think that, I remember this, period of time when we were going out, I think it was around, 2015, we were going out and doing runs. And that's when you were playing with us too, Aaron. But we would come back to Nashville and we would go to maybe the night we got back, we'd go to our show at Five Spot, see some friends play.
And we would always have this kind of, for a while, it's kind of up and up. Like how does it run? incredible, man. So good. So great. Like crowds were awesome, you know, whatever. And then we had a conversation at some point where we need to be real. when we come back, it doesn't need to be pessimistic, but like, how was the run, like Not great you know, half 50 rooms a couple times like 10 people
[00:04:48] Margo: playing to a cardboard cutout of Kenny Chesney
[00:04:52] Aaron: Mm
[00:04:53] Jeremy: was a decision we made around that time we're like, hey when we come back home Let's just be honest about how things are because we feel like our musician friends will relate to that instead of just feeling like Intimidated by how great our run was and how great was your run?
Oh, mine was excellent, you know That was the first I think wall that came down with just being more honest about Well,
[00:05:11] Margo: and honestly, just starting to write songs about what was going on too, because it was this dark, self deprecating humor of, the desperate and depressed song that came out of the tour of going to Florida and going out and, you know, you finally get a booking agency and you think everything's just going to gel and then you're still searching for your crowd it's always going to be like this.
It's never just like this, it's always ups and downs
[00:05:35] Aaron: I think the being honest thing about how the tour was, how the shows were, like, It's so simple, but it's amazing that more people don't grab onto that, there's so much shame around nobody showed up when it's completely out of your control at the end of the day,
[00:05:50] Aaron and Michaela: not your fault.
[00:05:50] Aaron: Yeah. and just being open about that and being honest about that, like kind of just subliminally creates this atmosphere of like, you know, It's okay to talk about this this sucks for everybody.
[00:06:01] Margo: 10 years ago, I think it was even less than now. you know, everybody's just curating their, their life on social media and, you know, I'm guilty of it too. Everybody does this, like you put up the stuff that's good, you put up the highlights, but there's a lot more than. Then just that going on, obviously.
And for me, it's like, I just, when I'm not feeling good on social media, I just check out for a while and I just take a break and
tried to be really open about the things that I've went through because ultimately people are just going to connect to that way more.
[00:06:33] Michaela: That's what we keep learning with this and I keep learning in in my life because I Overshare all the time publicly and on social media because of just what's happened in my life the last several years But it's not gonna be for everybody. Not everybody's into that but the people who are Drawn to that are gonna be that much more drawn to you when you're honest.
oh, I want everyone to think I'm doing well because then I'll be attractive to them. That's not actually what it's doing. Sometimes it isn't that attractive and I remember that very clearly about you guys at around that time of 2014, 2015 when we all met and stuff and I remember that very clearly with you Margo of how refreshing it was That when I would talk to you at the bar or something you wouldn't be like, yeah, everything's great Even when like things started to go really well for you guys Like I still remember you being like but there are still challenges this is hard Maneuvering this and that never made me be like, oh Maybe she's not doing as well as she, like, it seems that made me be like drawn to you because the honesty and the realness it takes us all a while to learn that it attracts the right people when we're true to who we actually are
[00:07:46] Margo Price: yeah.
[00:07:46] Jeremy: a friend last night and I said, Is he do, he said, I'm okay. And that was a way better response than like, I'm great, you know? sometimes the little bit of that connects you to people. you see people online, they have filters and things between you and them.
And then when you see someone in person, they still have the filter there, but it's like a facade of what they're putting out. Then you go through the niceties, Yeah, doing great. You too? Yeah, great. Okay. And then you go away. The person that says I'm doing okay. You tend to sit and talk to 'em for a while.
I know.
[00:08:14] Aaron: Yeah, it feels real. I feel like I'm actually talking to somebody at that point, I can like. Walk through the five spot on a crowded night and feel like I'm running for office, you know, it's a lot like oh, hey Yeah, man, these are great. Cool. Yeah Let's hang give me a call, you know And you say that 50 times and then at the end of the night you're like I didn't talk to anybody Wow
[00:08:33] Jeremy: yeah, yeah. Didn't connect
[00:08:35] Michaela: I think there's also this, belief that the more you achieve in your career and the more success you gain and the more fans you gain, then automatically you must be good.
how could you not be happy how could you be going through a hard time or struggling with something when you have the things that we all And I think that's a big realization of being like, Oh, you could be selling out tours and making money and still be struggling.
[00:09:05] Jeremy: the Oscar wild quote that everyone quotes Oscar Wild, but I don't know exactly what it is, but it's something about like, there's two tragedies in life. One is getting what you want. The other one is never, never getting what you want, there really is a curse in, getting everything that you want because in.
There's some part of you that needs challenge and whatever it is, and you're going to find it somewhere. You know, Even if you're happy in the moment, there's going to be something that's going to come with that blessing. It's going to hit you upside the head, in a way you didn't expect.
[00:09:30] Margo Price: Mm You a little bit and it changes things, in a way, but it does come with those other problems.
[00:09:40] Margo: Somebody said to me the other day like, want to find out who your real friends are. Stop paying everybody. And uh, obviously, I'm super grateful for the successes that we've had wouldn't change it. But the travel's still grueling.
Then you're being away from your kids all the time. And then I think just in American culture in general, no matter what job you're in, everybody is just so concerned with, achieving high enough? Am I hitting these marks that I thought I would by 30, 35, 40. Oh, just learning to be happy in the moment.
that is really The ultimate goal, you have to live with yourself and, you know, more money and all these things. They're not going to make you happy because. I've been there and honestly, all the things that come along with being in the music world all the time and being at shows and drinking and partying and all those things.
you don't have your head screwed on straight, then you're not going to do well know, At the end of the night, you still have to go home and be with yourself and be alone with yourself.
[00:10:33] Aaron: Yeah, that's so well said. We've, we had a guest chair. Last year, she's a violinist and composer, but she's, perform with Beyonce and everybody else. And she said, everybody talks about being prepared for success on like the artistic level and on the creative level, but you have to be prepared for success on the mental level as well.
Because like things don't slow down, they only get faster and things always get harder and there are bigger decisions to make and more people involved with every decision. And if you're not. In a grounded, strong place in your mind, you're just going to get bowled over and it's not going to be enjoyable, it's not going to be sustainable, it's not going to be equitable, anything, unless you're solid in your own mind.
[00:11:15] Jeremy: Going to be able to endure success as much as you can endure failure. So if you're not able to take not hitting the mark that you want to hit, then when you hit it, you're not going to be able to take that either. So
[00:11:26] Margo: anything in life where it's like the more you have something, you know, like the more you need it.
And then you're. You know, I think all musicians feel this like you have a big gig and like it's all the dopamine. It's just like a kid after Christmas or a birthday party and you're like, Oh, it's amazing. And then it's over. And then, we live two kind of totally separate lives. It's like when we go out and we're on the road and we're doing this and we're running and then you come home and we're like, it's just back to mom and dad and up at six in the morning and taking the kids to school and, we went to the UK for this tour and like, yes, it was incredible. Yes. There were some really great shows, but when you talk about the other 22 hours, it was like no sleep flights, at six in the morning, napping and just sleeping whenever you can eating garbage food and forget about doing any kind of sightseeing or whatever.
Like, We're just trying to survive
[00:12:16] Michaela: Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah.
[00:12:18] Margo: It's like the diet and those things. Yeah. They go out the window and, of course we're only posting like the little highlights. from it. It was like, we were on tiny planes my merch didn't come. And that was the only way that I was going to be able to break even.
Because it's so expensive to get a full band over there and I didn't have vinyl at my first three shows and then so the Last show in London is like that merch came in I went out to the table and shook hands and kiss the babies and sign everything and like they were like, yeah He's
[00:12:48] Jeremy: a lot of babies to it. We're proud of babies, you know
[00:12:53] Margo: Really young crowd. Yes
[00:12:54] Aaron: How is it playing shows at 3 in the afternoon?
[00:12:57] Margo Price: my God, I honestly would love
[00:12:59] Michaela: to do that. Not kids shows.
[00:13:01] Aaron and Michaela: babies
[00:13:01] Michaela: My dad is always like, I think you should do kids music. You could be like the next Rafi. And I'm like, no, Dad. But I would love to play at 3 o'clock because I love going to bed early because we wake up so early.
[00:13:12] Jeremy: Festivals man, yeah. But yeah, we came home, it was like well, at least we didn't make any money. You know, like, we're all fried out, you know, and kids are like, wake up! We're like, at least we didn't make a profit, you
[00:13:22] Margo: it's just nuts because it's like, I mean, I look at like the amount of people that are coming to the shows, it's nearly selling out, like going to like Scotland and playing and doing so good.
But the harsh realities are that the overhead of touring hotel rooms, flights, everything that it takes. And it's like, we didn't have like a guitar tech. We didn't have monitor tech, going in there and, the guys are setting up and helping break down their stuff.
And everybody's working very hard to make all of this come off. And, I love a lighting person. I love all these things, but at the end of the day, we are in unprecedented times where musicians have. So much against them and streaming and these corporations, what they have done to take away money from making albums.
And then just what COVID did to touring and you've got venues taking a cut of the merch and everybody's taking a piece of the pie. She doesn't pay me either. Yeah, and he,
I get nothing I bring him along 'cause we share a hotel room, . Yeah. You think free labor. Anyway, it's always a joke that it's like, he's not on the payroll, but you get your
[00:14:27] Aaron and Michaela: dms
[00:14:30] Aaron: indentured servitude can be very easily with job security.
[00:14:33] Jeremy: indentured servitude just happens in marriage anyway,
[00:14:35] Aaron: yeah,
[00:14:37] Aaron and Michaela: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:14:37] Michaela: but I think that is a major disconnect of Understanding that even at a level where you're selling, a thousand tickets a night or whatever that it's like we You've got to be making a living at that and it's like, well, you'd be shocked at how and that's even to this day when I hear from different artists or managers of what tours have been in the red 20 grand or 80 grand and I'm like, even on that level, that's wild.
So you're just like, trying to collect pennies everywhere you can.
[00:15:06] Margo: yeah, you look at it like an investment and I'm like, hopefully we get to go back and get some good festivals that will help make the headlining stuff over in Europe makes sense, but COVID really did just seem to change everything. And I also don't remember like venues taking a cut of the merch a long time ago.
now it just seems like every little piece is being like.
[00:15:27] Jeremy: Yeah, there was a time when it was frowned upon for that to happen, and now it's like
[00:15:31] Margo: normal. We don't get a cut of the bar.
[00:15:34] Aaron: know.
[00:15:35] Margo: I'm sorry, but no one would be drinking. Those babies drink a lot. Those babies run up tabs. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:15:51] Michaela: all these different communities. And then I feel like what I've seen happen is there have been even less protections or support for artists and bands coming back.
I've signed contracts at festivals where it's if you miss your set for any reason, including COVID or illness, you have to give us back the money. And I'm like, What? If you miss gigs because you get COVID, I got COVID on Kayama last year. They did not do that, thankfully. They, I missed a set and they didn't have that
[00:16:21] Aaron and Michaela: Good.
[00:16:22] Michaela: But I'm like, you then like, have spent on travel and then you get sick and you have to be sick in a public place and then you also lose your income. And pay your band still. And pay your band. I'm like, this is Nuts. That nothing was changed to help artists and bands more. The people that this entire industry is dependent on.
The bottom this industry is nothing without us.
[00:16:44] Margo: I know if, you know, if we didn't decide to pick up a guitar 25 years ago, like half these people wouldn't have jobs, but you
[00:16:52] Aaron and Michaela: know, somebody would have
[00:16:53] Jeremy: picked up a good time.
[00:16:53] Aaron and Michaela: We would have made
[00:16:54] Margo: money off that guy because they know that musicians are hungry for exposure and it's one of those industries that just has one of the highest turnover rates because there's always someone there waiting to get out. And do the thing, but like, I always say, when someone's trying to get me to do something for exposure, I'm like, exposure. I'll kill you.
[00:17:10] Aaron: Yeah. Exactly.
[00:17:12] Michaela: Can you guys talk a little about, like you said, all the dopamine and the big highs from huge shows and big experiences, what it feels like and how you guys have had to learn? To like, grapple with the comedown. Cause to me, it always feels akin to a drug addiction in a way.
Because like you said like, the more you get it, the more you want. and then you need more to fill that high. And I've always been so Anxious about that aspect of this career and watching like you guys the last decade the highs look from the outside like to be, friends with legendary heroes of yours and like has that been a thing to deal with at all The come down and how to manage it and keep steady and remember your root system, basically
[00:17:56] Margo: every time we come back home from like a tour or some kind of special show or festival, we always joke that it's like an astronaut entering into the earth's atmosphere. Like you kind of have to do it gently or slowly, but when you have children, sometimes it's so jarring and you come back and you're like, okay, I have to.
use my brain in this completely different way and also be very like, mindful of not letting my lows get in the way of my parenting and my home life, which is just really impossible because I'm highly sensitive and, sometimes you just can't help it. But I think I protect myself more now than ever with just it's going to sound crazy and maybe even a little boring, but like, I like when things are like this.
This has been my whole life. So even like last night he played a show and I thought he was playing at 8 30 at first. And then he's like, Oh, it's actually like nine 45, 10 o'clock. And then I didn't go because I was just like, no, I gotta be up early in the morning with the kids.
And like, when I don't get my sleep, I'm just. kind of unbearable. So then I didn't go and then I was having FOMO because like Lily was, Lily Hyatt was there and he had a really good time. He was playing with Santa's pickers and stuff, but like, we've been gone a lot this month. Month of January, we were away from our kids more than we were with them and Judah was in a play at school, you know, I missed soccer tournament
[00:19:14] Jeremy: I think as far as dopamine high and low, it's different for us because she's the center of attention, so I know it's really hard for her like, after, like, a huge roaring crowd chanting your name, and then going back like, a bus or like, a hotel. Hey, no, no, I'm not, I'm saying for me, it's not as high of a boost.
I get one for sure for playing shows, and there's two different too, because after a show, I might have a couple drinks. Like, It brings me down. She doesn't drink anymore, so like, not only is she like, up in the rafters dopamine wise from the show. But she doesn't have that crutch to bring her down.
So then, I think for her it's harder like, sometimes, I'll stay up with the guys till 3. 30, 4 in the morning, because we don't have a, bus call till 4 or whatever. We don't have
[00:19:55] Margo: to worry about the voice holding up or whatever, you know.
[00:19:58] Jeremy: I go back in the back to get in my bunk and she's still awake, because she's just like
[00:20:03] Margo: I can't, yeah.
removing alcohol three years ago. I don't even know how I did it the way that I did it before, but of course I've gotten older and like hangovers were just
[00:20:13] Margo Price: Mhm.
[00:20:13] Margo: way too hard. And yeah, I'm the type of person that like, I am going to do something to the extreme, even like my coffee.
I really have to watch my coffee on tour because it dries out my voice and keeps me up late. And I'm the type of person that can just have four or five cups of coffee
[00:20:29] Margo Price: Mhm.
[00:20:30] Margo: at the end of the day, I'm like, so yeah, now it's like, try to take like a CBD edible. I'm like, making sure I'm getting a workout in.
I'm going to move my body and go try to find some sunlight. Some days we're in like a stadium or like a, if we're opening like, for Chris Stapleton or something like you're in a hockey arena and it's dark all day long. There's no windows and. And if I've slept until noon or one or two, maybe then we're just living on like a, on the vampire schedule.
then we come back home, it's just, opposite, it's up at 6am. Yeah. Go to bed at eight. And I struggle to see friends and to go out. And do things sometimes because it's just I feel like I'm so overstimulated while I'm gone and I come back home and I'm just like alone in the woods hiking with
[00:21:16] Jeremy: my dog.
metaphor. we'll both come home and I can seem to adjust easier, And she'll be like, man, I don't know why I'm so like low. I'm like last week you had like, a lot of people tell you that you changed your lives and amazing.
And this week you're cleaning up dog shit. So it's probably, probably that, you know, would be the reason that you feel low, that she's cleaning up. Cause like, yeah, probably like dog shit, you but it's a different world, you know,
[00:21:39] Aaron: It really is. My experience with, being on the road and doing everything that we did before, but with a kid now is like running downhill, every step you're trying not to just eat shit and just like start falling You know, there's there's really no catching up You just hope that over time it evens out and the tiredness and the exhaustion all that like just gets absorbed back Into like churn of every day,
[00:21:58] Michaela: I think having kids to we only have one child and we're only two and a half years into this, but, I've struggled with having the guilt of missing the freedom of life before and struggling with the ways that it Motherhood has shown me that it's had discriminatory things happen or held me back.
And then I feel guilty for those feelings. And then I, to combat that, try and look at, how also raising a child is such a vehicle for real, emotional and spiritual, growth as a person, as a human, and I feel like having a kid, especially if you have a career where you impact so many people's lives and you get that feedback and you get applause that stuff feels so good.
so good. But it is really important to keep your feet on the ground and be like, okay, I'm doing this good stuff. But I'm also still a person that like, take shits like I'm not above anybody. And children can be so humbling and helpful to like, keep you on the ground.
[00:23:02] Jeremy: They do force you into a growth, as you said it's like.
[00:23:05] Margo: Yeah, you learn from them.
[00:23:06] Jeremy: Even if you don't want to grow in whatever way they're gonna make
[00:23:08] Margo: you Judah our oldest he's now 13 he's gonna be 14 this summer
definitely Having him back then Even though we did still party and go out a lot more it really saved our lives Because we couldn't just do it every single night.
We had to take breaks and protect ourselves. And one of us would always be. It would be like, okay, it's your night to get drunk. Sounds terrible, but you know.
[00:23:35] Aaron and Michaela: no, we would
[00:23:35] Jeremy: always have someone on duty
[00:23:36] Margo: being very serious about their job. And then the other person would be like, okay, I'm getting up in the morning.
[00:23:40] Jeremy: We never took him for granted and never, forgot about him. changes everything. You're saying you only have one and it's, she's two and a half, but two and a half is Crazy. You're in the weeds. You know, Two and a half is insane,
[00:23:51] Aaron: There's a lot, yeah.
[00:23:52] Margo: And y'all don't have family in
[00:23:54] Aaron: No. Just us.
[00:23:55] Margo: So we know what that's like. When Judah was young, we had no family here either.
[00:23:59] Jeremy: I stayed home. She toured in between when I was in her band and when, when I wasn't. And, yeah, that's rough. And even if you're going on the road, as you do with her, like with them, I didn't like that because I felt like I was a caretaker.
In small rooms where I didn't know the area, like I didn't know like what food was available. Like, I just want to be at home. The grocery
[00:24:17] margo_price_raw-video-cfr_riverside_0143: store
[00:24:18] Margo: is right there. And you pray. There's like a children's museum in the city that you're in. And no matter what, it's always closed. You're like, Oh, it's a Monday, you know, whatever.
[00:24:27] Aaron: we just went through this cause like, on one hand I'm like really grateful that we're able to travel together. Just the three of us, like we went to Europe for three weeks. was last summer and Michaela just played solo, right? Yeah. It was all solo shows, so like, Georgia and I were just traveling, and like, that's amazing.
That's like something we're going to remember forever, it's really cool that we're able to do that. but then conversely we were going to go, she played 30A, and it's, a few hours down the road, on the beach, and I was like, I would rather stay here, Georgia has her bed, she's got her toys, I know where the grocery store is,
[00:24:55] Margo: we do a healthy mix of both. Because I start missing them so
[00:24:59] Margo Price: Yeah.
[00:25:00] Margo: that it's just impossible, and so then we bring them out, and like, Ramona even chose, During my headlining tour, they came out, but it was dead of winter.
We were in the Midwest. No, it was nothing to do. The green rooms were small, whatever. She, about six days in, she's like, I'm ready to go home now. She's I'm done with this. I'm done. And so we just bought our ticket and they just flew home. And it was like, and we FaceTime them and stuff, but it really does make your kids.
So adaptable and like Judah our oldest he can talk to anybody he's helped me with my merch he loves to be behind the merch table
[00:25:35] Aaron: I mean,
the first festival we took Georgia to, she was two months old, three months old or something like that, and I think the first like lengthy tour, she was like eight months or so, was on tour with, the Milk Carton Kids, and like Kenneth and Joey like, were so down, you know, Joey especially, like, he had kids at home, so he's like, oh, cool, kid energy, this is great.
They were so nice everybody at the venue was like, super excited, they're like, oh, there's a kid like, running around. she was socialized with people who were excited to see her in all these places,
[00:25:59] Margo: Totally.
[00:26:01] Jeremy: Yeah, so people are like, oh, you're having kids? It's like, no, we're growing our own employees.
[00:26:05] Aaron: Exactly.
[00:26:06] Margo: Band members. Yeah, yeah.
[00:26:08] Michaela: But it is true. Like, I was just so floored by how Judah was like a host when we came over for New Year's and he like opened the door and leaned down to Georgia right away and was just like, hi, how are you? Georgia was obsessed with Judah the whole night.
[00:26:21] Aaron and Michaela: was all about him, man.
[00:26:23] Margo: I love that. he's been out on the road forever and Ramona, too. We brought her out when she was 16. She was six weeks old and just strapped her in this thing on the tour bus and we would bring the bouncy thing and you could hook it on the doorframe and she'd just be in the bouncer and the, in the green rooms.
And, you know, of course, once they start school, it gets a little bit more complicated with them, like this in school and stuff, but my mom has been able to come along with us and help a bit, which is Like I said, I mean, you guys are doing it. with no family around and we were there and we know how challenging that is.
There's really nothing that can prepare you for how it's going to change your life. And it's going to give you a new sense of it. Once she's a little bit older, I mean, I don't know, like Ramona has been really hard at sleeping through the night. It's been hard to be back through the younger years again,
[00:27:13] Michaela: Also like spirited little girls It's so hard for me. Like Georgia is so strong willed. And sometimes when I'm like, I want her to stop, I can't help but laugh when she literally like stomps her foot and throws her fist down and leans forward and goes no.
Mom, and I'm just like, Oh my God, you mouthy little, I don't say that, but then I'm also thinking yes, you are so strong.
[00:27:40] Jeremy: Like also, you're two and a half, you have an overabundance of confidence right now. You know, you just push you, you fall over.
[00:27:46] Margo: I am always just reminding
[00:27:48] Jeremy: myself. You have two and a half year old confidence.
[00:27:51] Margo: Rebellion is a sign of intelligence. So
[00:27:54] Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. A hundred
[00:27:55] Michaela: percent. Can you guys talk a little bit about the mental load, especially in the younger years of childhood managing all that you guys manage, but then also really creating the space to let yourself still be creative a parent, you have Ongoing list of all the things you have to do all the time and like I've struggled with since becoming a mom I have a better handle on it now with a schedule, but it was the first time in my life that I've really seen I used to hate schedule and routine, and now I love it so much.
And it's the only way that I actually can write and be creative, which was not the way it was for me in the past. we just started making a new record and. I was like, Oh, this is the first time we've made a record together since Georgia was born. I feel like I'm brand new at this because my brain feels so different now that I have a child to be thinking of through this process and making sure we have the babysitters lined up, feeling bad that I'm away from her for longer than she's used to her feeling sad and communicating that and missing us.
And I'm like, this is like a whole other load of shit. to grapple with when you're also trying to be creative and use your talent and record and can you guys talk about that at all?
[00:29:09] Margo: say we have always been very, disorganized. creativity can be a little chaotic sometimes cause sometimes you're just going to wake up in the middle of night, you're going to have the idea or whatever. But I think we use our time more wisely now too, because we're like, okay, we're like.
Kids are gone at school, so we wrote this morning a little bit together.
[00:29:28] Jeremy: We also create differently and I think sometimes it will frustrate Margo, because I can I'll be thinking about something for a while and then like I can have a moment like one second where she's like I'm gonna go give Mona a bath and I'm gonna go write a song.
So like I had something brewing I have to have like silence. She needs time and like quiet and like It's to get in a place where she can write and so I don't have to remember that I don't
[00:29:47] Margo: like when people are walking around in the room or like, you know my mother lives with us and so it'll just be like I'll be sitting at the piano and then if Somebody comes in.
It's just like, no, it's ruined. Do you ruin
[00:29:59] Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. you know, we're in my studio right now and our house is, 40 feet across the driveway there, but I'll come in sometimes, just to grab a lunch or something and I'll hear her singing like in her room at the end of the hall and she'll hear me come in and just shut up like immediately like Yeah,
[00:30:15] Jeremy: I'm like, but you sound good singing. I'm not even here to listen, but like, it's okay. It's not embarrassing.
in there like singing, people walk in the room and say, you know, it's awful. It's intimate to me. And I definitely need, like Virginia Wolf's, a room of one's own and we, we have this music room that we're kind of in, but it's not a studio, but we're working on.
[00:30:35] Margo: Making that happen and also maybe building like an outbuilding that we can have I have a closet that I built For my clothes, but I have a desk in there and I have A place that I write and we keep a guitar in our bedroom and that's where I do a lot of the writing too for myself is just I feel like I can go
[00:30:52] Jeremy: hide.
This is where I make a closet songwriter joke, you know. but no, she writes in there a lot.
[00:30:58] Aaron: we built this place when Mikayla was pregnant, and before that my studio was in the basement, and it's like such a blessing to be able to like, leave the house and go somewhere to create, even though it's 40 feet, it's just this mental switch, even when my studio was in the basement, I would purposely like, put on real pants to go down there, because I would notice that like, if I was still wearing like, sweatpants all day, I would still do stuff, but I wouldn't take it as seriously almost, It's just like that kind of switch of
[00:31:24] Jeremy: sees you in the mirror putting your tile on. Like, where you going? Going to work, babe.
[00:31:27] Margo Price: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:31:29] Aaron: Downstairs. Yeah, just going down to the basement. so like, this morning you guys wrote, does that happen spontaneously? Or is that something like that? Yeah, where you're like, hey, we, I have this thing that I
[00:31:39] Jeremy: I was actually going to go run some errands. And she's like, well, we got the podcast at one and blah,
[00:31:44] Margo: blah, blah. I had something at 11 and I was like,
[00:31:47] Jeremy: we both had like parts of songs. I was like, do you want to work on those? And so we worked on one of them.
we got the chorus, which is the most important part. Now we have fill up the rest of the bones of it. But
[00:31:57] Margo: yeah. A lot of times we do plan on writing and we take a lot of like writing retreats in the past we've got an Airbnb and just totally like left the state just so we don't have to think about kids or anything, or like I said, anyone just walking in the room, but I'm really trying to work in Nashville and not flee and actually use the resources of being here.
And I think that. I'm wanting to record my next album in town. And so we've both been trying to just kind of write when we have time and write while the kids are at school. Like, I have one show in February and March. So I feel like it's a rare time for me to like, be home and have downtime and like lean into domesticity or like whatever.
[00:32:40] Jeremy: I don't know how you two work, but we both kind of become this way. We used to write at nighttime, now it's like, I have to have a fresh brain. it has to be before three o'clock in the afternoon. Otherwise I'm distracted on some level. So we try to hit it before noon if we can.
[00:32:54] Aaron: I'm generally good until like around dinner time. That said, if I start a right at like three in the afternoon, it's going to generally suck. I can like pick up a right at that point if the seeds are already planted, but if I'm trying to start something it's, going to be awful. But no, we used to work at night and now like after we put our kid to bed, it's, I can't do anything.
[00:33:12] Jeremy: Yeah. It's like your brain is mush. And then like, always have like time to watch one thing together. We're like, you want to watch detective or whatever. grabbing a guitar after like you've been yammered at for like eight hours by a kid It's like there's nothing going on, you know
[00:33:26] Aaron: it's the curse of having a toddler where like, as soon as they go to bed, you are exhausted and you could fall asleep at any moment, but you also need like a few hours to yourself to like, remember that you're a person and like a human being. So
[00:33:38] Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah, told since we have two now, it's funny because they're in different periods of their life and I was in the car with both of them and One's in the back of the car seat and one's next to me. Obviously the older one's next to me there with the car seat younger one was doing something that was like kind of annoying.
Like, Hey, look at this. But it was like, look at nothing. Look at this. Like, Look, hey dad, look, you know, and I'm like, for you to try to explain to Juah that he did that to me. You know, he's like, I never did that. I'm like, but when he sees it in action like, don't, Judy, you did that all the time.
I'm like, it's beautiful. Cause it's I want to be part of life. But I was like trying to explain to him, don't you see that? Like at the end of the day, after all of the times that Mona was like, Hey, look at, it's like, your wires just get kind of crossed.
And I think recently now he respects us in the evening where he's like, okay, I'm gonna go do something on my own. Like you guys have like a moment to. Well,
[00:34:23] Margo: that's at like seven, but we have been also trying to do like right around dinner time or maybe even a little bit before, put our phones away, really focus on the children during that time, have supper, do the baths, don't be distracted and be like just looking at social media or even checking emails.
And that helps too because it's I just think that we live in such a time where nobody's giving anybody their full attention ever. I've been really trying to like lean into that because that's one of the joys about our work. I think is that you get to go away a lot of times, do the work if the kids aren't out.
And then I come home and it's like, we're going to focus on you guys, you know. of course, I still am really happy when school is in session.
[00:35:06] Aaron: of course. Uh I don't know if you guys are home for that snowstorm
[00:35:10] Margo: that was cobit vibes.
[00:35:12] Aaron: Oh, fully.
[00:35:13] Aaron and Michaela: Yeah,
[00:35:13] Jeremy: old school lockdown
[00:35:15] Aaron: the first couple of days people were like, yeah, cool snow. Awesome. And then like something around like day four everybody lost their mind.
[00:35:20] Jeremy: the joy went out of all the Instagram posts.
[00:35:23] Aaron: Yeah, immediately. when the weekend came around we went to, Aubrey Mills just to walk around. We have some friends down the street, we're like, do you want to go to the mall? Like, They're like, yep, we'll be there at 930 when it opens.
[00:35:31] Michaela: Zidane and Aaron Haynes, I like texted Brandy, I was like, do you guys want to go to the mall? And she was like, Aaron just said, thank God. Yes.
[00:35:38] Jeremy: Anywhere.
[00:35:39] Michaela: were like drinking Starbucks and Brandy was like, who would have thought we'd be like drinking Starbucks and nine 30 in the morning at a like suburban mall
[00:35:49] Aaron: with our kids.
Michaela posted something about it on Instagram and a friend hit me up. Like, how did you guys get to the mall? You guys can leave. Like, how'd you do it?
[00:35:56] Jeremy: Life changes. You meet people in like a dive bar and you're part of this pretty scene, and you're like, and then. The next thing you do, you wake up and you're at the mall at 9 30 in the morning having a Starbucks with your kids,
[00:36:04] Margo: you know? Don't
[00:36:05] Aaron and Michaela: even know. Yeah.
[00:36:06] Michaela: I think about that all the time, about how many friends, all of us that are like in mid thirties to early forties we met all of our friends by hanging out at the five spot. when we first moved to Nashville, we literally were looking at houses to rent on Craigslist and would Google map, how far from the five spot.
Cause that's how we're going to make friends.
[00:36:26] Jeremy: We always dreamed of living right in the Five Spice Points. we just walked to the bar and now like our priorities are so different. We're like, dude, like now we're like 20 minutes from the nearest bar, you know, it's
[00:36:33] Margo: It's funny because I still do like to go out.
we go to Shulman's, which is in our old neighborhood. We used to live three to five minutes from there and I do love to still go to Shulman's and hang out and talk to people. But yeah, I just do it way less. I just pick my night that I want to go see somebody. And
[00:36:50] Jeremy: there was a beautiful thing about it in those days.
it was networking, but it was like, social. And that's how you get to know people. That's how I get to like see new bands. we also try, we don't, we're not that good at it, but we try to go see music we have opportunity to do it. that was a cool thing about back in those days, you'd be there to drink or to hang out with your friends and you'd end up seeing a band that you never heard before and you would end up being friends with them.
[00:37:10] Margo: Well, yeah. And I mean, when I see something going on like, feel like, you know, before it used to be like almost go to bars that didn't have live music sometimes. Cause you just get so burned out on it. But like. when I see like Aaron Rays playing at Browns or you know, whatever. I do try to go out and still see shows, but times change.
I'm 40 and it's gonna have to be something really good to get me outta the house. ,
[00:37:33] Jeremy: I mean like a show last night at Bobby's e hour that I was playing it, it wasn't good
[00:37:37] Margo Price: Had
[00:37:38] Michaela: to be better than that, Jeremy.
[00:37:39] Aaron: Oh, yeah.
[00:37:40] Aaron and Michaela: Know
[00:37:40] Jeremy: an upper game, bro.
[00:37:41] Aaron: not that I play that many shows these days, but I can't remember the last show of mine that you came to see.
[00:37:45] Michaela: a lot to get me to go out these days. Like you said, Margot, how like, you used to really love the ups and downs I'm someone who's super sensitive now that like, I don't really drink that much, can't drink more than two cups of coffee or I like, lose it, I really, really like this because even like, a sunny, beautiful day gets me like, oh my god I get like, so high pretty easily that I'm like, I then get really exhausted because the comedown is so hard for me.
So I'm just I like to go to bed early and read a book, watch TV.
[00:38:20] Margo Price: Yeah.
[00:38:27] Jeremy: like So like frazzled and like hungover. I feel fine. I have five tequilas. I'm great, you
[00:38:32] Margo: know, yeah, I get emotional hangovers
[00:38:36] Jeremy: Yeah, she has a very sensitive up and down register too, so I think it's good to stay in that
[00:38:42] Margo: mid range, it's funny because we both got our like, DNA, ancestry stuff done, because He was adopted, he didn't know his bloodline and everything, and, I accidentally got the health thing, which tells you if you have any diseases that are gonna kill you like, I didn't really mean to do it, but I got it back, and it was like People with your blood type tend to have really bad hangovers and tend to be more sensitive to alcohol, which was just super eyeopening for me.
[00:39:09] Jeremy: And it kind of made sense. A lot of
[00:39:10] Aaron and Michaela: sense
[00:39:12] Jeremy: years of like, you know, we would go out the next day, all over here.
The next room was like, I'm dying.
[00:39:17] Michaela: Oh yeah. Oh, yeah, my hangovers would last two days. I have so many horror stories of Significant things I missed because of really terrible hangovers for way too long in life. There
[00:39:28] Aaron: was one time I can't remember I think I played a show at the High Watt. Was it that? Yeah, it was like the next day McKayla's like Not sick, but like on the floor in the bathroom sobbing because she feels so bad and vomiting.
Yeah Oh, were you yeah, I walk in rub your back I'm like, know, this is gonna go away This will pass and her eyes lit up like I told her that we had won the lottery And like she never had to worry about anything. She's like wait, really like this is gonna go away. I'm not stuck like this forever
[00:39:54] Michaela: I asked you to order me a pizza and you did something else and I came out and I said Erin,
[00:39:59] Aaron: now!
I made a call. I was like calling somebody about our car that was in the shop or something. She goes, she's like, now!
[00:40:07] Margo Price: Yeah, No shame. No shame. Live and learn. women are honestly more sensitive to alcohol. I think it's, the hard truth of it. I don't really miss it that much. We work in an industry that's just there all the time, but I have felt so much better and just have so much more energy.
[00:40:25] Margo: there's little turning back
[00:40:27] Jeremy: the philosophy for humans is you should be doing something for pleasure that's causing you more pain than it is your pleasure. You know?
So I've always said this and she's sick of the metaphor, but life is a table and you have to take things off the table as you get older. And when you're younger, it kind of, everything's on the table. But you just get to the point where you're like, okay, this needs to be gone. This needs to be here. then you're in your 50s and you got like three things on the table. That's fine,
[00:40:49] Margo Price: Yeah. I've
[00:40:49] Michaela: never heard that metaphor. I really like it. I like
[00:40:51] Jeremy: That's mine, but I would say I'm sick of it because, I was like, why is the table, and she's like, here we go.
[00:40:57] Margo: Uh, yeah, but that's okay. After 20 years, you know, you just get sick of hearing the same
[00:41:01] Aaron: Yeah. Uh, this, story. Yeah. I was wondering Margo how sobriety feels like on stage. you have like a pretty energetic show, but then also in my judgment, you have like a lot of really high pressure shows. do you feel better overall or just sometimes do you wish man, I wish I had something that could kick me off this cliff,
[00:41:17] Margo: we used to always do like a shot of tequila before we got on stage and we picked that up with hanging out with Iggy Pop and Queens of the Stone Age guys. It was like, okay, I'm so much less inhibited, you know, when I've had a shot of tequila. And then it was like, I would notice like three songs in, I would get this kind of pinching like dryness in my throat where I would always feel like I had to like clear my throat.
And now we like get together and, huddle up and like say a prayer, which is just completely the opposite feeling. But I feel like. I just am so much more in my body and in my mind and everything. I feel like I'm just sharper and then I get off stage and I get to feel more of the euphoria of just being on stage.
Of course, there, like I said, afterwards, there are times when I really do miss it. And just, when you're feeling things that are really painful, like Of course, I would like to numb out sometimes I still use cannabis and, CBD and, I drink kava tea and I,
do mushrooms and so it's, I'm not sober,
[00:42:13] Aaron: Yeah, yeah.
[00:42:14] Margo: but,
[00:42:14] Aaron and Michaela: you know, I'm just kidding.
[00:42:18] Jeremy: No, we've had a rule for a while. I mean, We will. Sometimes walk on stage with a beer, but you don't drink
[00:42:24] Margo: before the show. Yeah, nobody in the band really and even just like, there's other things like even using like uppers or something.
It's like that makes you feel too
Not connected to things. So I I never thought I would be one of those people that's like This is my morning routine. I, wake up, I meditate, I get in the sunlight, I like cold plunging I've probably annoyed him for how far to the other side I've gone,
[00:42:47] Jeremy: Well, It just makes me look bad is all. It's
[00:42:51] Aaron: I still drink occasionally, but I've basically, been predominantly sober since 2018. And when I first went there, I, same thing, like I went deep, I was stone cold sober. I trained for and ran a half marathon.
I was meditating like 30 minutes to an hour a day, journaling, journaling every day, like men's retreats, like deep I was
[00:43:11] Michaela: the that's like such an interesting thing about long term partnerships. You're not always like this. And Aaron was like, in a place of deep healing and growing and all this stuff and I was like, falling off a cliff drinking more than I ever had been.
I was never home. I basically like, exited our marriage And it was like irritating to me that he was doing well, I couldn't be like you are the problem because he was just like Well, you told me I'm the problem.
And I'm going to like, do some research and you know, looking at myself and getting healthy. And it took a while for me to be like, Okay, I think now I'm the problem. Not to quote Taylor Swift all the time, but like I, like I now have to figure it out. So it's so interesting when you can be on different paths and maybe not one's the problem and one's not, but like when you're on different Times of seeking or new routines, Aaron has a morning routine.
I can't get a morning routine together. I'll do it a couple of mornings, but for the most part, I'm the last one that wakes up. he gets Georgia up brings her into bed with me. And, that's okay. So like learning, navigating when maybe your partner doing something.
Doesn't have to mean that I have to do it vice versa like how have you guys navigated that being on different paths
[00:44:33] Jeremy: you know, when I am drinking, I tend to drink more when we're on the road because, I'll have the kids and there's not that responsibility.
I don't feel that like, I kind of feel more like, who cares? There's, here. I'm going to have some drinks, you know? so we definitely butted heads in that way.
[00:44:47] Margo: Well, Especially if we're like sharing a hotel room because I'm like, Hey, it's really hard for me to go to sleep. Anyway, and then when you come in Stumbling three or four in the morning because he's part of the wolf pack
[00:45:00] Jeremy: Can
[00:45:02] Margo: you tell we haven't had therapy in a couple of months because we're trying to save money This is yeah, yeah I mean, yeah, it comes with his challenges and we're definitely like nobody is ever going to just grow at the same rate I met him when I was 20 and actually this valentine's day is 20 years of us being together, but we've definitely had our breaks and bumped heads it's really challenging sometimes,
[00:45:26] Jeremy: well, we've Talked a couple times about the idea of a separating and there's this weird really strong Magnet that kind of happens then we get really both angry and sad thinking about being away from each other So I think they loving each other is biggest Thing that I know that if she doesn't love me that she
[00:45:41] Margo: would not trying to change each other which is super hard sometimes because I want us to be experiencing all things together.
But at the end of the day, I'm on my own damn journey and trying to just stay true to myself. But he's been such a grounding, influence in my life. And even if. You know, At times we're not on the same wavelength even that I think it's the music and the songwriting that has held us together and obviously being parents and stuff, but I think even more than, than the kids and all of that, it's been like.
The way that we work together and the way that like, he has helped me navigate things and just stay grounded. I mean, I can get lost on a whole other path of vapid, things just don't matter. And the music business is full of that. And so he pulls me back down to earth and maybe I can.
Pull him back down to earth and try to pull me out of the hole.
[00:46:42] Jeremy: We're trying to get you to the sea level, you
[00:46:44] Aaron and Michaela: know?
[00:46:44] Margo Price: Yeah,
[00:46:45] Michaela: was there, especially when you guys had a band together for so long and then it changed to being Margot as the front person in the solo career, even though you guys write together and you're playing with her, did that new dynamic have any different challenges that came with it?
[00:47:01] Jeremy: Oh yeah. there's a whole story with that because you know, it was us and the band and like I was one of the heads of the band, you know, and then it became her. And at first I didn't really, deal with it. I'm like, oh, it's fine.
Look, she's doing great. She's doing great. It's awesome I'm writing songs with her. We're a team still and I'd be like, we're gonna interview with you Margot. I'm like, oh, not me Okay, that's cool And as years went by, I kind of built up and built up so we've had this whole other level of like situation where I've had to deal with the fact that like, this is my role, this is what I do.
And then I got a record deal through anti records and I put out a few records and they didn't do well. And then like last year, I had to deal with the fact that they dropped me, you know, but I already kind of knew that like this, whole career wasn't gonna. Match up or be the, you know, it wasn't going to be the same. So this year has been my challenge of like really doing it and enjoying it and not being. Jealous, so that's something she's had to deal with the whole time is me being like what about me? Because, you know,
[00:47:52] Margo: have, you know, it's like, I believe in him more than anybody.
And when he got his album deal, I look at his work it's very cerebral. It's to me, he's like my Bob Dylan, you know, and I could have seen a point where like his career could have surpassed mine and You never know what's going to happen in this business because the turnover and the way that the industry treats people like they're disposable.
And also he's not good at marketing himself. He didn't want to be on the internet all the time. He didn't want to be posting constantly about things. And it's like, man, if you want it, like you have to constantly be. Continuing to evolve and change and stay relevant is, it's exhausting, man.
[00:48:34] Jeremy: Turns out I don't want that much.
[00:48:38] Aaron: came to terms with not that I've ever been a front person, but like the nature of what we choose to do for work, especially now that I'm don't really do the Sideman thing that much anymore.
I'm in here. Producing records and stuff like I have to be in a studio somewhere or somewhere with microphones whatever that is and she has to be on tour, you know So like as a parent she has to travel I have to carry the load in times and like go back and forth and there's a lot of just finding Comfort in that and my knee jerk reaction Like when she has to leave for tour for like two weeks is like, oh, well, what about me?
And it's like, I don't want to leave for two weeks. That's not what I want to do I like being in my studio Like I designed this place and built it and I want to work on records
[00:49:17] Margo: I would love to spend more of my life making records and being at home. I feel like when you have to do something, it makes you resent it. And that is. One of the only ways that anyone can make money is to just go out and be on the road and be a traveling circus.
And there are other ways we're trying to figure them out, but we're not very like business savvy type.
[00:49:40] Jeremy: It They don't want it. They don't want it anymore. They don't want it.
[00:49:46] Michaela: But I think that's one of the Heartbreaks of life, I think, as you get older and take such emotional maturity to be like, okay, what am I being called to do? What is my role? My whole life, my dad would say, know your role. He often would say it like in a don't fucking bitch, know your role. But there is a bigger sense of like, what is my role to fill? And maybe it doesn't look like what I dreamt it was going to be. And I can be sad about that and grieve that. If I spend too much time attached to the disappointment, I could be missing out on how incredible this other thing could be for me, and who knows if that other thing I was originally dreaming of will come back around years down the line.
We don't know, but I think that process that you're describing right now, Jeremy, of working through that I think is really essential for everybody will have to deal with that at some point because even if you have all your dreams come true, there will also be a time when they stop coming true.
[00:50:42] Aaron and Michaela: you
[00:50:42] Margo: on the long climb back to the middle.
[00:50:44] Michaela: there you go. Exactly.
[00:50:47] Jeremy: if you grow up with siblings, it's the same thing. There's going to be one of your siblings that's going to get more attention at some point. You're going to think what about me? I'm important too, you know? so I think we deal with these things from a child, even your friends or whatever, you know, from a childhood perspective.
But, if you get up in the morning You go to bed at night and in between there you did something that you enjoyed and maybe make you some money than that. the high mark of success. There's nothing else besides that. Like being on the cover of a magazine It's not gonna make you happy if that's not what in your soul you want to do, you know, relating to you Aaron It's you know the role of being a father and to be creative in a studio and It's not about the fact that the spotlight is not on you, it is on you because you're doing something that matters behind all the people that are in the spotlight, one of those people that's in the spotlight is Georgia, so it's like, when you step aside and let someone else take The main attention, in your life which we never understood when we were in our selfish twenties or early thirties, our parents did that for us, you know,
[00:51:40] Aaron: hmm.
[00:51:40] Jeremy: they set themselves aside and let us be the center, you know, we're still trying to figure that out, with our kids.
[00:51:46] Aaron: yeah, I think in our short experience as parents it's an ever evolving role to, I can imagine how you have to step aside and support Ramona is way different than how you have to step aside and support Judah,
[00:51:56] Margo: as your kids get older, instead of being like their boss, you become their consultant where you're like, okay, you need to come to me. I need to let you make your own decisions. I need to let you fail. I think honestly, this generation that's coming up right now like, compared to the way that we were all raised, there's a lot of like, Oh, we don't want to let them do anything.
That's going to hurt themselves at all. And think about, you know, where we would be if we didn't have all those failures and all the 90s, the
[00:52:23] Aaron and Michaela: freedom
[00:52:23] Margo Price: Yeah. I know.
[00:52:24] Jeremy: to go play with the kids and throw rocks at each other. And they climb a fence and
[00:52:27] Michaela: Until the sun comes
[00:52:28] Margo: need stitches. Here's some super glue.
So now I'm not saying. They shouldn't be just completely left alone, but like, And even just the challenges that obviously they're growing up with, like all these screens and devices around and stuff that is really taking away their ability to interact. social media is anything but social
talking to people and calling people and having a conversation like.
That's something that is even rarer these
[00:52:53] Michaela: I wanted to go back to one thing before we. Wrap up and say goodbye cuz I know we're at time but what you guys were talking about with Jeremy your career and your records and stuff and not wanting to be on social media and posting and doing I think another thing of great emotional maturity is like learning what are the things you're willing to do to get what you want.
And if doesn't feel worth it, then it's just not worth it. And okay, where do I find the way that I can do the thing that I love? It might not be to the level of recognition I dreamt of or whatever. And that's okay. Adjusting our expectations while taking a real look at like I'm not on TikTok and I don't want to get on TikTok because I don't have the capacity.
Is that going to limit my career? Like, Sure, maybe, probably, but I'm at the point in my life now that I'm like, I don't want it enough. There's things that I've determined, like I'm totally happy with the life that I have now and not growing if that's the consequence to me not overextending myself even more to spend more time on videos.
That's not with a judgment of people who choose to do it to help promote their careers. It's just knowing thyself
[00:54:01] Margo: think about what you get by not being on your phone or on an app or whatever. You're getting more quality time with your family. You're getting these things that maybe you can't like, measure by zeros in your bank account or whatever, but you're getting things that are more valuable.
And we just don't value them in our culture, unfortunately, you know, maybe in the future, I when all the system collapses,
[00:54:26] Jeremy: being an artist thing I started realizing after having a little bit of success, you know, putting out like, I think my first record, got some press and Rolling Stone and, all this stuff you get a little bit of a burst of like, don't mean off of that and, but it almost felt like, writing a song was like, biting into like a fresh orange, getting like an article about you was like having like orange flavored soda.
It wasn't the same to me the same like rich full amazing feelings I don't know if you get this song high Like when you write a song you know is good Even though no one's ever heard it just in your phone and in your notebook Then like I can go for like a week be like Yes, like I did that, you know, when I realized that I like that.
I like recording. I like writing a lot. I don't really like being an artist. I really don't like to promote myself. I'm indifferent about going on a tour of my own stuff. If it's a fun tour and I'm opening up someone I really like and I get to hang out with them, that sounds fun.
But like. I really just travel with Margo and play in her band and write with her and write my own songs so I've gotten myself in a rut where I've been recording my stuff, but I'm not putting it out. So I got this like, backlog of, but I mean, I like, it still makes me happy to know like, When I'm 70, I'll have this recordings even for my own pleasure, for my family or
[00:55:32] Margo Price: For your
[00:55:32] Michaela: kids.
[00:55:33] Margo: comes across me.
But there, there's nothing, to me, there's nothing more beautiful than just making art. For the sake of making art and not worrying about who's going to like it? What's going to happen? Just make it. It's a diary entry of where you're at in the day. go back to the study that was done about preschool age children and they have them do these paintings and the kids are painting and they're really enjoying just.
Making the paintings right like it's fun. It's fun to make a painting after they get done with the painting They give them a gold star and the kids are like, oh wow like, okay I got this gold star now that they want to paint more right so they keep giving them the gold stars I keep painting and all this stuff pretty soon.
They take away the gold stars what happens is the kids just stop painting all together. I think about that too, as where, you know, we're in award season and everybody's doing it. did I hit the marks right? And, you know, it's not about the trophy. It's not about the writeup.
You made it for you and you made it because you just wanted to have an offering that you made to God, just to make something beautiful. And we all, get very caught up in all the other stuff that goes around it. Yeah.
[00:56:39] Jeremy: Once you start thinking about what song the gold star holders want to hear, you know,
[00:56:44] Margo Price: Oh my
[00:56:44] Jeremy: like, Yeah, it's
[00:56:49] Aaron and Michaela: awful.
Exactly.
[00:56:53] Aaron: it's something that, is said a lot on this show, being the season that it is and all of that, like. Creating for the sake of creating and defining what is success on your own terms for you.
And being confident in that, what your definition of success is totally valid because it's your definition for yourself. It's not somebody else's definition being placed on you.
[00:57:11] Margo: I had somebody ask me They were doing the rapid fire questions or whatever. And they said, what do you want to be when you grow up? And I just said, happy.
[00:57:18] Aaron: Hell yeah! Yeah!
[00:57:19] Margo Price: Mhmm.
[00:57:20] Margo: Even the people with the most success are often the least happy really.
[00:57:25] Michaela: Yeah. The feedback that we've gotten thus far, we did 46 episodes last year, ending with Mary Chapin Carpenter was our last guest and she was, Bringing that message home. She was just like, I still feel marginalized.
I still feel rejected. Nobody gets everything they want it doesn't go away and I was like even with 18 Grammy nominations and quadruple platinum selling records and she was like no that doesn't fix me
[00:57:52] Margo: she's always just hanging out with her dogs. It looks and she lives in the country and she's putting up beautiful pictures of nature and stars. she's got something figured
[00:58:00] Michaela: But I, I think we all need to continuously hear the accolades, the high moments, the affirmation, it's all great, but it's icing no matter how much you get it, it's not the thing that, feeds what we actually really need to feel at peace.
[00:58:16] Jeremy: You want that real orange. You don't want the orange soda. That's right.
Well, We love you
[00:58:21] Aaron: Yeah. We love you guys, too.
Thanks for carving out time.
[00:58:24] Margo: we're not doing therapy, we'll
[00:58:26] Aaron: Definitely. Yeah. Same time. Works great.
[00:58:29] Aaron and Michaela: every week,
[00:58:30] Aaron: All right, guys.
[00:58:31] Margo: Take care, y'all. We'll see you soon. See ya.