Brittany Howard and Margo Price on Fishing, Life in Quarantine, and Social Change

Brittany Howard and Margo Price talk life in quarantine, fishing, and speaking out for social change in a new video for Musicians on Musicians.

The duo kick off with Price showing Howard eight one-month-old kittens in her Nashville home. “You can have pick of the litter,” she tells her.

“This is for all the viewers that don’t know this,” Howard tells the camera. “Me and Margo go way back…used to stay up all night going to shows, talking, drinking, talking about our dreams, our plans. Back then, it was a different time.”

Howard released her debut solo record Jaime last year, while Price’s That’s How Rumors Get Started arrived last summer. Howard was only able to tour behind the record before the pandemic cut it short. “I started having a really good time again,” Howard says. “With the [Alabama] Shakes we’d be playing our songs, we toured so hard, we’d play them over and over and over again. It was starting to take some joy away from me instead of adding joy to me. Never a good feeling. I was kind of apprehensive getting back on the road again with Jaime, but I knew I had a lot of great intention behind it. I just needed to try my hardest and just hang in there. Just hold on,” she says with a laugh, referring to Alabama Shakes’ 2012 hit song. “I found out I loved it again. I was having a really great time before everything got cut off. I was finding my place again onstage with my voice.”

The musicians also catch up about their lives in the pandemic: Price’s one-year-old still isn’t sleeping through the night, and the lack of sleep and the inability to have friends and babysitters around has taken a toll. “I think I’ve leaned into everything pretty heavy,” she says. “Going on lots of hikes. Spending a lot of time outside. Been fishing a couple of times at Marrowbone. Nothing to write home about.”

Howard herself has been building a boat and has her own Instagram account dedicated to fishing. Off the road for the first time in nearly a decade, she’s enjoying her time at home. “Been sick,” she says. “Nine to 5 people: Don’t take it for granted. You get to go home at the end of the day.”

Both musicians also share that their favorite songs on their own records are the final tracks: Howard chose “Run to Me,” while Price connects with “I’d Die for You.”

“I think especially where we’re at in the world right now, everybody should become united again,” Price says. “That’s one of the things that Jeremy and I said in that song. It was, ‘Don’t really have a side.’ I just hope ‘the record can take people’s minds off what’s going on for a brief moment or make them think more deeply about what’s going on in the world. It’s certainly not a political record, but I hope that people can learn to be a little more forgiving.”

They also touch on speaking out for social change and the importance of voting. “I take that really seriously when it comes to voting and politics,” Howard notes. “A lot of what’s going on today affects me directly as a gay woman of color. I want to feel safe in a kayak in the backwoods. I don’t want anybody getting ideas just because we live in a charged climate politically that it’s OK to hurtle insults or bully someone. I want to feel safe just as much as Billy Bob wants to feel safe.”

They also discuss their friendship and what they’ve learned from each other. “It gave me hope for genuine music and talent,” Price says of Howard’s success. “I think the thing I’ve learned from you, Margo, is perseverance,” Howard says. “I’ve known you through this entire come up success story. You never did give up. I’m so proud of you knowing your story and how hard you work because now you have a big family full of animals and humans.”