Maybe We’ll Make It: A Memoir

Grammy-nominated musician Price chronicles in her dazzling debut her hardscrabble path through addiction, poverty, and loss on the way to becoming a successful recording artist. Born in 1983 in Aledo, Ill., Price displayed a talent for music early on (her mother and grandmother, she writes, “insist[ed] I sounded like a full-grown woman when I sang, despite being only nine years old”), and though she excelled in the school choir, verbal and physical abuse from schoolmates led her to drinking and an eating disorder to escape the despair and loneliness. Eventually finding solace in journal writing and playing guitar, Price dropped out of college and moved to Nashville to pursue her musical dreams. But as she reveals in spare and affecting prose, pursuing success came at a cost: surviving near poverty and working a series of menial jobs, she began an arduous 11-year climb up the musical ladder through open mic nights, nightclub gigs, and cross-country tours. After losing a baby to a heart defect in 2010, Price resolved to confront her addictions and poured her heartache into her songs, landing a recording deal with Third Man Records (“my dark horse”) and an appearance on Saturday Night Live. Told with moving candor, Price’s tale of overcoming squalor and pain provides powerful emotional context to her hard-won country music stardom. Fans will adore this story of survival. (Oct.)