One day before the United States’ Trump-stained 250th birthday party, Margo Price has made her own contribution to festivities with an angry, sorrowful and occasionally jubilant set of protest songs. Price has made her political opinions pretty clear in recent years, most notably at the 2025 Newport Folk Festival, where she introduced her version of Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)” with a cry of “Fuck ICE!”
“Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)” is one of nine songs she’s recorded for Days Of Unrest – five covers and four originals: “Can’t Stand Still”, which she first played in her early Nashville days with her rock and soul band Buffalo Clover; and “San Marcos,” a three-part instrumental written with Jeremy Ivey and recorded with her backing band, The Price Tags.
“San Marco” is evenly split across the record, with sections appearing at the start, middle and end of the record. The first part introduces a dusty borderland feel, providing a Latin American-infused theme that Price maintains across the next couple of tracks. “De Colores” is a Spanish-language song closely associated with Cesar Chavez’s United Farm Workers. Price sings beautifully in Spanish, accompanied by the horns of the Memphis Mariachi.
The mariachi band stick around for “Deportee”, which Price sings as a duet with Joan Baez. In the current climate, this Woody Guthrie song about unnamed deportees killed in a plane crash has taken on incredible pathos. Price has been singing the tune for years, but few know it better than Baez; their combination of voices feels like a baton being passed between generations.
A change of pace comes on “Oval Room” as Price adopts a jazzy-country tone for Blaze Foley’s droll anti-Reagan statement. “He’s a businessman, he got business ties / He got dollar signs in both his eyes”, she sings, carefully enunciating a lyric that fits the present incumbent just as effectively as when it was written in 1984. “He’s a real cowboy, with his makeup on… He’s the President / But I don’t care.” Happy Independence Day, Donald!
After the two-minute intermission of “San Marcos Theme”, the tempo rises for a pair of swinging county numbers. “Long-Haired Country Girl”, originally written by Charlie Daniels as “Long-Haired Country Boy”, is an ode to personal freedom and weed, themes straight from the outlaw country songbook. Price sings that one with a grin on her face and follows it with “Can’t Stand Still”. This song originally featured on Buffalo Clover’s 2011 album, Low Down Time, and sees Price stand up for womanhood. The Price Tags deliver swampy backing, while Price’s fantastic vocal tips her into Dolly territory.
Towards the end of “Can’t Stand Still” a whistle can be heard, much like the one on “Highway 61 Revisited”, preparing the way for a final cover, “Maggie’s Farm”. Price’s arrangement begins with a call-and-response vocal before the band arrive to up the pace, ripping through a frantic cowpunk version of a song that has been covered by artists from Rage Against The Machine to The Specials. Price leaves nothing on the table with her take on the tune, an exhilarating outpouring of emotion before the final “San Marco” brings an impassioned collection to a reflective close.
As the first female artist to serve on Farm Aid’s Board of Directors, Margo Price will play some of the songs from Days Of Unrest at their annual benefit concert in September, while some of the proceeds from the vinyl edition of the album will be donated to the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project. So if you want to support the cause, you know what to do.