The singer-songwriter Margo Price took a seat the other day in Hekate, a non-alcoholic dive bar, and ordered a drink. The bar, on Avenue B, was empty except for the bartender and a tarot-card reader, who was waiting for a customer to show up.
One night, Price macrodosed psilocybin. She had been reading about how Bill Wilson, a co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, had taken belladonna, a psychedelic, which supposedly led to the creation of the program. “And I thought, Wow, that is so interesting.” While tripping, she had a revelation: “No one is going to care if I quit.” She hasn’t swallowed any alcohol since.
During the recording of “Strays,” most of which took place at the Topanga Canyon home studio of the producer Jonathan Wilson, Price was nearly outed. Wilson has an old cantina-like bar with Western décor—antlers and old leather—in a freestanding building on his property. During their sessions, Price appointed herself bartender. “I felt like I could control things if I was bartending,” she said. “So, when everyone would do a shot, I would do soda water.