Full disclosure: hard-core county is my go to “comfort music,” it soothes me when I’m stuck in freeway traffic and it’s also good for road trips.

We’re talking 70s: Willie & Waylon, Johnny Cash, Merle. And even earlier, late 60s—Ray Price, Webb Pierce. And The Queen Bee of of all this? Loretta Lynn. She was global; there was a movie—“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” for which Sissy Spacek won the 1980 Oscar for best actress.

There were books by and about her. She was the real thing, meaning she was as “country” as they came: born in a KY holler, she was poor and got married at 14 years old, and also because of her oversized talent.

Country newcomer Margo Price has that same hard-core style and delivery. Like Loretta, Margo Price’s singing is strong and tough with clever lyrics of love gone wrong. “Hurtin” (On The Bottle) is out right now and Price absolutely nails whatever it is that makes these songs make you cry in your beer. “Hurtin” (On The Bottle) is a killer hard-core shit kickin’ country song, the kind you want to see and hear in an out of the way juke-joint: a young blond woman with a guitar, singing a song of heartbreak.

Margo Price

•  Her debut album was released at the end of March.

•  Two weeks after that, she performed “Hurtin” (On The Bottle) on Saturday Night Live

•  She’s been invited to play at Willie Nelson’s annual 4th of July picnic.

This has also been a big year for Chris Stapleton, another artist with that retro, 70s sound, sometimes referred to as “traditional County.” Is this a trend? Will other artists who sing in this style also get exposure?

Time will tell.

In April, 1964, if you listened to Top 40 you heard the Beatles, but if you listened to Country, you would have heard “Wine, Women, and Song” by Loretta Lynn, before she was really famous.

Coincidence: Margo is 33 years old in this her breakout year—Loretta was 32 when “Wine, Women, and Song” went to #3.