So I started just taking notes on the radio because I heard it. Fellow singer/songwriter Aimee Mann tweeted well wishes to Isbell: Im so sorry. And we had a TV that wed watch, you know, Saturday Night Live on Saturdays. It rings out like its supposed to. It was love at first listen, Shires says of the fiddle songs. How are we going to police that? In 2020, The Highwomen won album of the year at the Americana Music Honors & Awards ceremony. I am your man. SHIRES: (Singing) If you want a lover, Ill do anything you ask me to. And I followed a dress code. GROSS: So how seriously were you taken by the musicians in the band? And it also made me stronger in the fact that I could feel comfortable singing about it and talking about it. Recently, I had an ectopic pregnancy, she tweeted. And she would dance a little bit to the Beatles and stuff and started seeing the possibility that she might go into music one day. I had no problem taking direction, but and I had no problem helping when I needed to help, so. I never wouldve thought that before, but now I know its true. We would sleep on the floor in the closet there because she would do the night shift, because she would was going to school in the daytime for being a nurse. In the decade-plus that Shires has been making solo albums in addition to working as a side person with Billy Joe Shaver, Justin Townes Earle and, eventually, her husband and fellow singer-songwriter Jason Isbell she's expressed self-consciousness about the shivers and tremors in her singing voice, tried to smooth them out of her delivery and ultimately embraced its untameness. Well close with the opening track from Amanda Shires new album. And I was like, my granddad was in Alcatraz? And there was a guy that also played the guitar, like a multi-instrumentalist side person. (Playing fiddle). My best hope is that people continue to get angrier and that the folks who have been fighting so hard for so long, and are already tired, find some strength to keep fighting and also to mobilize others, especially youth, along the way. Maybe I was asking for a little too much. Video Playlist: Drive-By Truckers Play Pared-Down Southern Rock, You can still find those adventures if you surround yourself with the right people, Isbell tells Rolling Stone, sitting at a picnic table on the roof of the Port City Music Hall in Portland, Maine, where hell perform in a couple of hours, a few days after his Newport set. And here it sits. I know they enjoy it. SHIRES: She did. Its just like you would expect, but theres real, scientific proof for it now. When her distinctive vibrato appears on To the Sunset, as a subtle emotive tool or punctuation in her storytelling, it feels like an electrical charge shuddering through the live wire of her voice. However, you can still listen with the Spotify or Apple Music playlist at the bottom of the page. He has since learned to tell the story of his recovery. All Rights Reserved. Ive found and scrounged and continue to for every interview that hes done in any form, in any language. AMANDA SHIRES: (Singing) Youre leaving now through the hole of an argument. And I think they probably had conversations that you would, if you were that close to each other, about that stuff and didnt bring it up. You dont see a lot of men speaking up, and every voice is helpful. I tried so hard to make myself clear. If youre just joining us, my guest is songwriter, singer, musician Amanda Shires. They might not have had a voice before or might have been cast out into the streets without any place to sleep had they mentioned it earlier in their lives. Tommy Duncan was the singer. You can say I lost my grip. And I really liked it. Like, I know that in all of the searching that he did still believe that there was something bigger out there, so I dont have to go trying to learn all these other things. In Portland, he led the band (including his wife on fiddle) through charging, heartfelt songs that often sounded like the cavalry was coming. And it was a picture of hands holding on to nothing. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. So I would be studying my pieces. SHIRES: Ive listened to all of his records. I heard in 22 songs, one womans voice I heard. I know everyone is scared of losing their rung on the ladder, but there are more important things, I think, than your fame. And I said, yeah, I feel like theres not a lot happening there emotionally for me. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. How did you manage to do that? When we left off, we were talking about when Shires was 15 and started playing fiddle with the Texas Playboys, which used to be Bob Wills band. And it was much safer for us to sleep in the closet with the TV at the bail bonding place than to be left to her own devices at home. And so I got to do that basically because I was willing to work in a group and play a part and do just that thing and show up on time. This is FRESH AIR. SHIRES: Oh, right, in Alcatraz. SHIRES: I began writing that song when I did the record My Piece Of Land a long while back. My daughter was about a year old, and I was getting into my touring van because I hadnt worked my way into a bus yet. And she was also holding down a day job as a single mom. These really arent personal. You can say its all my fault. He still cant seem to notice when the dishwashers unloaded and all the dishes are put away. The way she relaxes into low notes on that last line makes it sound far more like an unembarrassed confession than a complaint. And it took me back to the reason I came to writing and doing music in the first place, which is expression and trying to do something for me that could make me make sense, I guess. Isbell took a stand, even facing backlash from his fellow artists. I cried, I asked and I balled. And Id sit on his porch. Amid the rise in infections, it was reported last week that one of the worlds most prominent concert promoters, Live Nation, will allow artists performing at its venues to require guests in the U.S. to show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test. And your verse, you are somebody who thinks of herself as a healer but was hung in the gallows during the Salem witch trials. Where are our Nashville folks? Curled up on the floor with it all. GROSS: So that was the Highwomen, which is a song performed by the supergroup The Highwomen, which was co-founded by my guest, Amanda Shires, and Brandi Carlile. Shires has an MFA in poetry, and she's exacting in her use of imagery to portray sensuality as a force both internal and physical. For the past decade or so, Amanda Shires has sung about the dark shades of relationships lapsed communication, broken trust, fading intimacy with a devastating eye for detail. GROSS: And me of you, so thank you. And thats when the fertilized egg stays in the fallopian tube. SHIRES: It was because Tommy Allsup was living in Snyder, Texas, at that time, and he was running the Bob Wills band. GROSS: Thats the title song from the new album. It just seemed like the right thing to do because I dont want to spend my time on stage worried about if Im making people sick.. And one day, we wound up in the studio, and we cut the song. Its a great song, so I thought wed play some of it. The players in the band, they took me seriously as a player, but they also understood that I was a kid.. And why did you want to work it into a song? So its probably important to stay alive before you start questioning your liberty.. If youre just joining us, my guest is songwriter, singer and musician Amanda Shires, and her latest album is called Take It Like A Man. Well be right back. I would have died; my daughter, Mercy, would have lost her mother; my husband, Jason, would be a widower. If you want a boxer, Ill step in the ring for you. All Rights reserved. And I thought if Im going to get any rest, Im going to have to do something about this. Do you think God still sees me, coming out of this twilight sleep? she asks, before the band carries the song out with a powerful extended coda. And youve called on country music stars to speak out, too. When do you show him the songs? So since they are personal songs, you had to decide to say that. And so I felt in my mind, I felt those things. Shires told her producer Dave Cobb, who also served as bassist in the album's indie rock-leaning band (with Isbell on lead guitar), "My violin needs to sound like it's in an aquarium, but more bright. Likewise, the changes underway to the Supreme Court after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg could also mean that abortion rights will come under fire nationally. And even on the charts, theres one spot usually I think in 2016, there was 13% representation of women to men on country radio, and now it still sits pleasantly at 16% on a good week. She performs in several settings and has received awards in each of them. Grammy Award-winning songwriter Amanda Shires and bestselling author George Saunders discuss inspiration, songwriting, and Amanda's new song, "You Don't Get to Go." And it was a Carrie Underwood song from it was, like, six years before that or something. But whatever. Teaching himself to hear his own songs objectively has been one of the harder lessons to learn, he says: Its impossible to get that distance for me. It's not often in country musicor pop music for that matterin which an artist addresses a very personal and sensitive subject like abortion through a song. Thank you for your songs. SHIRES: I didnt know I was going to work it into a song until I got to the to writing it. The most-watched episode was from April 8th, filmed the day after John Prine Its all control.. Say whatever feels better or whatever. You can keep the car and the house. We found all this out afterwards. There were probably 2,500 people, and Im just standing there with a guitar, elevated and facing everyone. Amanda Shires opens her new album To the Sunset with a strikingly different scenario. Every one of them except for me survived. GROSS: Well, would you play Take It Like A Man for us? Snubbing the King: Why Don't Big Stars Want to Perform at Charles' Coronation? I had to spend the night with her at work. What does he have to lose? GROSS: I think its so interesting that your mother worked as a bail bondsman, not knowing that her own father had spent so much time in prison. How did you come up with the image of my hands are two empty cups? My guest, Amanda Shires, is a singer, songwriter and fiddle player. Were you in Texas at the time? Her latest album is called Take It Like A Man. Well be right back. Her new album of original songs is called Take It Like A Man. She also co-founded the country supergroup the Highwomen, which includes Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby. Jason Isbell performs in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Live Nation also announced a vaccination requirement for employees entering events, venues or offices, which will take effect October 4. Our business and our industry is about uniting people, and vaccines are one of the greatest tools for making sure that everyone can continue to enjoy live music together, CEO Michael Rapino wrote to the companys employees. Got myself a breakthrough case of Covid, the Alabama-born artist tweeted Tuesday. Look at Texas' Primary. Trending You slammed the door so hard I still hear rattling spoons. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). SHIRES: Oh, yes, Mercy is my daughter. Isbell said everyone attending the bands shows would also be required to wear a mask. Shires plays fiddle in the band. Upcoming Dates Past "Maybe it was circumstance, but I saw my chance and I took it," she boasts, her tone fuzzed-out by distortion. Lets get back to my interview with singer-songwriter and musician Amanda Shires. He could still leave it dish in the sink, you know? And (laughter) I, like, played the part. But anyway so I went and I sat down in my barn of internal wandering. And how come you didnt know before? Im on your side. But this part of my life in our marriage was difficult. And I return to them often. I just feel like that invites a lot of conversation and questions, you know, into our marriage and our relationship. SHIRES: Yeah. SHIRES: But I like it because I like to imagine like, if he was alive and I got to play this for him, I would be singing Im your Amanda. And it just worked when we did it. Become a member of WLIW ($5 monthly or $60 annually) and get access to WLIW Passport as our thanks for your support. But I had about seven different album sequences going on. But I thought, what am I going to do about that in the event that she does go into country music? SHIRES: So I thought if I could write a song with my feelings in it, that it might bring him around to the walls that arent really walls that we put ourselves behind sometimes. AMANDA SHIRES AND JASON ISBELL: (Singing) Everythings going to be OK. Its going to be all right. Can you play something that you think kind of epitomizes the style that you learned and fell in love with? The Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and guitarist from Green Hill, Ala., made headlines in 2021 for requiring proof of vaccination or proof of a recent negative COVID test to attend his concerts. Rock & roll kids just let decisions make themselves. You know, like, how does that go? GROSS: With the Texas Playboys when youre performing with them or something that you learned from one of your teachers but that really made you fall in love with the style and that epitomizes what that style is. SHIRES: I mean, I think theyre pretty good. And so I just had to get emergency surgery to remove the tube and clean the blood from inside of my body. SHIRES: I dont know that well, I dont know that I was going to leave or that Jason was going to leave. Im your man. SHIRES: Honestly, a lot of times, my thoughts come to me just in pictures. When it came down to it, when I finally got it done and recorded, Amy Coney Barrett had gotten sworn in. See where your favorite artists and songs rank on the Rolling Stone Charts. Why did you want to form this group? (In "Wasn't I Paying Attention," a tale of dramatically staged, small-town suicide, for example, the way she sings the word "attention" amplifies the narrator's unsettled state.) Wade was leaked last month, Amanda Shires shared some personal news on social media. So to give listeners a sense of Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys, listeners who dont know who they are, this is a classic 1940 recording of New San Antonio Rose., (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, NEW SAN ANTONIO ROSE), BOB WILLS AND HIS TEXAS PLAYBOYS: (Singing) Deep within my heart lies a melody, a song of old San Antone (ph) San Antone where in dreams I live with a memory beneath the stars, all alone. And while I I know the voice that I have is what I have. So what didnt you like about your voice? I dont care if somebody wants to put a target on me. SHIRES: My whole left arm is tattoos of Leonard Cohen. In 2016 I was going on the road. Well, why dont you sing some of it for us? Its yet another thing that, when policing does happen, is going to happen haphazardly and ruin lives. When we overturn Roe, we risk going back to, Oh, now same-sex marriages cant happen. Then I tried recording it in a couple of other situations, and I just didnt have it right yet. 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