My guest, Amanda Shires, is a singer, songwriter and fiddle player. Oh, I could have crowed. Shires wrote the song a few years ago and originally imagined it as a conversation between several women, but revamped it to feature her collaborator and husband. Isbells grandfather and uncle were both musicians, says Tompkins on the phone from Nashville. I know what the cost is in the octaves of consequence. My focus stays strong I can work on a song for six or seven hours in one day, and not get bored or tired of it.. No way. SHIRES: Thats well, see, Im accepting that it sounds like its supposed to now. So I started just taking notes on the radio because I heard it. The next time Jason Isbell told Amanda Shires he wanted to quit, she began talking with his manager about facilitating a trip to rehab. However, the "night-before bender" nearly broke them. Shires told WNYC Studios, "He wanted to do every drug, drink every thing, drink the moonshine, all the late night stuff, it was crazy. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. McWhorter, who had played fiddle in Bob Wills band, became her teacher, and when Shires was just 15, he asked her to join The Texas Playboys. This is FRESH AIR. 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. OK. In Portland, he led the band (including his wife on fiddle) through charging, heartfelt songs that often sounded like the cavalry was coming. But I think she probably knew. 2023 WNET. In 2019, she founded a country music supergroup called The Highwomen alongside Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby. Warblers and wrens, hymn at my throat, shook and quivering. They do tell you that going out and helping other people really helps you a lot. Lets get back to my interview with singer-songwriter and musician Amanda Shires. We just couldnt get along. But through the process of making the record and, you know, all the things that go with that, the hours and the tedium, it got easier for us to have conversations, not because we were doing the work of addressing the problems but because we were found common ground on something again, which has always been music and words. Shed been learning to play classical music on Ive been around so many people for so long who were. So either you have surgery or I think you die. (Singing) Time was all Id want. And I said, yeah, I feel like theres not a lot happening there emotionally for me. On August 9, 2021 my fallopian tube ruptured. SHIRES: No, not until a couple of years ago. I was like, Thats what I want to do, because you play this song and then you get to improvise you just play what you feel within the chord. Jason Isbell and his wife, Amanda Shires, were walking around last weekend in Newport, Rhode Island, where they played the Newport Folk Festival. SHIRES: Thats all you have to say? GROSS: Well, I want to take a short break here. Theres still just as much awe.. So I was left to the radio choices of sports ball and country top 40 country music. Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble. I got to a certain age and realized I couldnt be Indiana Jones.. Because once you have a baby, theres no social programming to help. Lawrence Rothman has been a model of self accepting themselves. Got myself a breakthrough case of Covid, the Alabama-born artist tweeted Tuesday. And so I felt in my mind, I felt those things. GROSS: One of the things I love about his music is the way he combined the spiritual and the profane in his songs and the spiritual and, like, anger and resentment and despair. Since writing that op-ed, I have had reproductive healthcare that some might call an abortion when I was hospitalized in Texas on August 9, 2021, with a ruptured fallopian tube caused by an ectopic pregnancy. SHIRES: When I write songs, I go into it either with an idea to explore something, make sense of the world or my feelings, you know, all that. A lark in the shower from the night to the morning after. credit: John Shearer. Im not a big AA guy, but Ill go every once in a while. I dont understand why its such a big issue, as big of an issue as it is. And this is the iteration of the band Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, which got their start in they were most famous in the 30s and 40s and 50s. I know I can take it like a man. So I couldnt really get into it. SHIRES: (Singing) Trying not to think of names. Upcoming Dates Past GROSS: Oh, yeah. We found all this out afterwards. Yeah without you asking. Shires, an incisive songwriter and solo artist and occasional member of husband Jason Isbells 400 Unit band, has been vocal about protecting a womans right to choose in the past. She has performed as a member of the Texas Playboys, Thrift Store Cowboys, and Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, as well as in a duo with Rod Picott. With artists and concert promoters nationwide forced to confront a surging spike in infections and hospitalizations attributed to the spread of the delta variant, And I remember the first time I sang ever, Leon Rausch had to hold my hand. Why werent you accepting it? And I was trying to sing that song A Little Walk With You (ph). Recently, I had an ectopic pregnancy, she tweeted. (SOUNDBITE OF AMANDA SHIRES SONG, HAWK FOR THE DOVE), GROSS: Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. GROSS: So one of the ways you ended up becoming a songwriter as well as a singer and musician was that Billy Joe Shaver heard you play. Web0:00 / 2:57 Amanda Shires - Fault Lines (Official Audio) Amanda Shires 26.8K subscribers Subscribe 23K views 6 months ago "Fault Lines" is on Amanda Shires' new album. GROSS: Without him asking? SHIRES: It was because Tommy Allsup was living in Snyder, Texas, at that time, and he was running the Bob Wills band. 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. The Truth About Amanda Shires And Jason Isbell - TheList.com I tried so hard to make myself clear. People forget that, if you take away access to reproductive healthcare, youre going to be killing moms like me. GROSS: So we have to take another short break here, so let me reintroduce you. 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. And I hadnt heard the fiddle being played at all. 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 I was thinking about how much the stories matter. SHIRES: (Singing) Im well aware of what the nights made of. Elizaveta Porodina/Courtesy of the artist, Naming The Beast: Jason Isbell And Amanda Shires On Speaking Up In 2017. So its probably important to stay alive before you start questioning your liberty.. And nobody would let me in, but I sat there anyway. And she also plays in her husband, Jason Isbells, band. I was lucky. Another is a freedom rider who died during the Freedom Rides. The election is November 8. 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. On August 9, 2021 my fallopian tube ruptured. 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. I dont have certain kinds of fatigue. ", Shires and Isbell have a toddler daughter together, and thanks to gendered assumptions about the distribution of their parenting duties, Shires has fielded more than her share of questions about how she balances motherhood and music-making. The former Drive-By Truckers newfound sobriety, a recurring topic of discussion (and of his exceptional songwriting), may have cost him some of his sense of adventure, but it has undoubtedly focused his attention on his craft. A few hours later, his band is peeling the wallpaper with their customary encore cover tune. Elizaveta Porodina/Courtesy of the artist And after we recorded it, he said, Thats a really good song. And I said, Thats all you have to say. I am Terry Gross. 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. Its just like you would expect, but theres real, scientific proof for it now. This fight is about more than just abortion. They all feel good, he says of making records, and they all feel really bad when youre working, simultaneously.. Do you think you would have been able to have the surgery if abortion had already been banned in Texas? Do you have you do a great version of Im Your Man, his song, Im Your Man, on YouTube. So did you ever visit her at work? He asserted that the band would cancel the concert if any venue refused to agree to their requirements. The spurs of hip bones Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. You had an abortion. But I am living still. Long before weathering the isolating COVID-19 pandemic, Shires had endured years of studio experiences where producers and musicians undermined her 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. Dont support artists who dont support your rights. Shires has released seven solo albums starting in 2005, her most recent being Take It Like a Man in 2022. Oh, I could have crowed. Amanda Shires' To the Sunset comes out Aug. 3. But for me, I was just happy to be up there playing music I loved. To keep the newness from wearing off, for every start theres gonna be a stop. And I save them all and I return to them often I own one of his guitars My whole left arm is tattoos of Leonard Cohen I really do feel like he did a lot of work for me that I dont have to do. Amanda Shires opens her new album To the Sunset with a strikingly different scenario. And one day we wound up in the studio and we cut the song. GROSS: Well, would you play Take It Like A Man for us? And healer seemed fitting for me not only because it happened that way, but my moms a nurse. 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. I had to spend the night with her at work. feeling fine but well have to cancel the next few shows, He then shared his symptoms and expressed his gratitude for getting vaccinated: Lotta sinus drainage type stuff, scratchy in my throat and some muscle aches but no cough or breathing issues fyi. I didnt start learning how to accept my voice until recently. Its no fun but well be alright.. Thats the percentage of people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 who have not had a breakthrough case resulting in hospitalization or death, according to the CDC. Say whatever feels better or whatever. Did you actually meet him? Theyre just, you know, scans of them. And I know I can take it like a man. I would have died; my daughter, Mercy, would have lost her mother; my husband, Jason, would be a widower. SHIRES: Ive listened to all of his records. 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. And for a lot of folks, that can be the most boring part of the three-part string ensemble thing. Im going to play fiddle and Im going to sing in. But this part of my life in our marriage was difficult. If you want a boxer, Ill step in the ring for you. Then her character takes control of the exchange in a teasing tone. And we would be quiet so that she wouldnt get in trouble because it was a lot then to be a single mom and deal with the difference in pay for men versus women. And after we recorded it, he said, thats a really good song. And the character you wrote yourself out to be, the flagship all part of my fooling. WebBEHIND THE SCENES with Amanda Shires | Backstage at the Ryman Presented by Nissan | Ryman Auditorium 11,820 views Jan 1, 2019 92 Dislike Share Ryman Auditorium GROSS: What I hear in your voice is that it rings out. On Shires' latest record, her songwriting is more fearless and vulnerable than ever but as always, it's a reflection of an artist focused intently on community, equality SHIRES: On August 9, yes, I was in Texas at Austin City Limits. Her study essentially proves that when folks cant have an abortion, it affects their mental health, their economic standing, their overall well-being. For those who are unfamiliar, it is impossible for an ectopic pregnancy to go to term. Refunds at point of purchase but were working on rescheduling. I believe thats when that that became not an option. And it was a Carrie Underwood song from it was, like, six years before that or something. ISBELL: (Singing) And all I could think to say was. In an interview on MSNBC Monday, Isbell stated the response he has received from people who work at the venues and in the music business has been positive because they understand we could go back to not working at all, adding that smaller venues might not be able to reopen if they go through another round of shutdowns. And then I thought about Waylon and Kris and them of The Highwaymen, and I was like, they were kind of speaking about ageism. On top of that, Shires notes, the pro-life stance doesnt typically extend past birth. And I followed a dress code. The Idol: How HBOs Next Euphoria Became Twisted Torture Porn But anyway so I went and I sat down in my barn of internal wandering. SHIRES: (Singing) Im scared to even say the truth. Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires to Serve as Record Store Days 2023 Ambassadors. And I wrote Fault Lines and then I texted it to him, just like youd imagine. After recording and touring for several years with the Drive-By Truckers, for whom he wrote standouts including Decoration Day, Outfit and Danko/Manuel, Isbell launched his solo career in 2007. He could still leave it dish in the sink, you know? I am Terry Gross. Shed been learning to play classical music on the violin at school when her music teacher introduced her to some of Frankie McWhorters fiddle tunes. And thats when the fertilized egg stays in the fallopian tube. 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