The eyes of Margo Worth can be firmly mounted on the viewers assembled on the second annual Evanston People Competition this weekend, because the Illinois native actually expects to see some household and pals within the crowd as she headlines the final day of the two-day occasion.
“I’ve so many cousins and other people [I know] that also dwell again residence, and I’m all the time comfortable after I can get in contact with them. We’ll see who reveals up,” Worth mentioned with amusing in a current interview with the Solar-Occasions. “You simply by no means know.”
“You simply by no means know” is also the philosophy that has guided each the non-public {and professional} journey of the woman from the tiny city of Aledo in western Illinois — from her school days at Northern Illinois College to her time in Nashville — all within the hopes of creating her musical desires come true.
However whereas it’s in Nashville that Worth has written her songs and gained her awards, her coronary heart stays firmly planted within the state she is going to all the time take into account as residence.
“I like Illinois,” mentioned Worth, who hit it huge in 2016 together with her debut album “Midwest Farmer’s Daughter.” “The Midwest will all the time be my residence. It was such a giant piece of who I’m, and I really feel like I meet Midwesterners all around the globe and in each metropolis and each state. [They are] a number of the hardest working, finest individuals on the face of the earth.”
It’s this form of work ethic that Worth continues to display as one among nation music’s strongest gamers. The 42-year-old inventive phenom who obtained a Grammy nomination again in 2019 for “Greatest New Artist” lately launched her fifth studio album, “Arduous Headed Lady,” a rambunctious pillow struggle between 12 tracks that will appear playful at first however finally ship listeners a few of her strongest views on the chaotic world round us.
“The subject material within the lyrics [has] a severe tone at occasions, however I do need every part to nonetheless really feel enjoyable and funky,” Worth mentioned, pointing to the juxtaposition of songs on “Arduous Headed Lady” similar to “I Simply Don’t Give a Rattling” and “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down.” “You’ve obtained to at the least preserve optimistic since you by no means know when every part’s going to alter and even be worse.”
She’s thrilled to carry a contemporary album of songs to share on the Evanston People Competition.
“I do know individuals wish to hear issues that they’re already conversant in, however I’ve simply been too excited in regards to the new stuff,” mentioned Worth, who collaborated with Tyler Childers on the agonizingly truthful “Love Me Like You Used to Do.” “Even final 12 months, once we had been opening up for Tedeschi Vans Band, I used to be enjoying a few of these new songs. However now, they’re all just about labored into the set checklist.”
And if Worth will get her manner, she is going to quickly work a visit to Aledo into her crowded schedule. “Christmas was the final time I used to be again,” recalled Worth, who will spend nearly all of the autumn on her Wild At Coronary heart Tour. “We had a giant social gathering for my mother’s seventieth [birthday], and I used to be bartending in one of many small bars close to my hometown, and it was a good time. I don’t get to do it practically sufficient.”
That’s why her efficiency on the Evanston People Competition can be additional particular.
“There may be simply one thing about coming collectively and making music, and as a music fan myself, there’s simply one thing about attending to see dwell music,” she concludes. “I really feel prefer it’s a launch to play and it feels that manner for followers too. It is without doubt one of the final issues that we now have to carry onto.”
The change from analog methods of listening to music, from data and tapes to CDs, to digital has made the expertise “very impersonal,” Worth mentioned, highlighting the importance of seeing a present dwell.
“The whole lot is simply floating on the market within the ether in some form of manner. And so, I feel the dwell present seems like one thing that has been capable of outlast all of it. It might nonetheless be a type of group and [bring] individuals collectively.”
