I just feel like that invites a lot of conversation and questions, you know, into our marriage and our relationship. Some people are upset at the way iPhones charge. Its no fun but well be alright.. And how did you figure out what you wanted your point of view to be, you know, like, who the song would be about? ISBELL: (Singing) Im on your side. hide caption. Click the audio link above to get the full experience, On channeling her feelings about her marriage into writing Fault Lines and showing it to Isbell, I went and I sat down in my barn of internal wandering, and this is after some kind of nebulous argument, and I wrote Fault Lines and then I texted it to him, just like youd imagine, I said, I just wrote this song. And then in my mind I thought, Well, if he couldnt hear the frequency of my voice before, maybe he could hear it through music, you know? And he married my grandmother. And then you also youve got guys thatll back you up. 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. I would like to think that fans can hold their role models and their favorite musicians accountable. GROSS: So this track features you, Natalie Hemby and Yola as a guest artist on it. Snubbing the King: Why Don't Big Stars Want to Perform at Charles' Coronation? 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. GROSS: I think its time for another break. OK. And I followed a dress code. Note: NPR's First Listen audio comes down after the album is released. It could be something you played. And that song, its part my story and part, you know, stories I know from friends. Former Drive-By Trucker is enjoying a breakout moment with new album 'Southeastern'. Shes also one of the founders of the group The Highwomen. 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. I mean, only just now nine months later, interestingly enough have I returned to having normal periods. You can say I lost my grip. Despite the many questions as to why she was undergoing the procedure which she described as having "cells removed" despite trolls labeling her a "baby killer" Shires wrote at the time, "The reasons that I chose to have an abortion are personal, and they are mine." It's a sentiment that Shires has echoed many times since. And hed play songs, and Id learn them. Thanks., RELATED: Jason Isbell slams Morgan Wallens appearance at Grand Ole Opry: Not surprised Just sad, Jason Isbell on the road, hummingbirds, fan requests and critical thinking in America, Jason Isbell on COVID vaccine mandates at concerts: No, were not taking away your freedom. I am Terry Gross. And if you want another kind of love, Ill wear a mask for you. And I said, thats all you have to say? 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. Im on your side. Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires to Serve as Record Store Days 2023 Ambassadors. Lets get back to the interview I recorded last week with singer, songwriter and fiddle player Amanda Shires. Its a great song, so I thought wed play some of it. And I had been internally bleeding for a whole lot of hours. 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. And my stuff worked. I think thats what people keep forgetting. The way she relaxes into low notes on that last line makes it sound far more like an unembarrassed confession than a complaint. She gets pregnant and wants to have an abortion, although she doesnt feel great about it. Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble. 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. I also received responses from trolls. Amy Salit and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. SHIRES: (Singing) Trying not to think of names. And I said, yeah, I feel like theres not a lot happening there emotionally for me. GROSS: Oh, thats so funny. But I think folks forget that access to abortion and reproductive healthcare is not just about terminating unwanted pregnancy. Its just like you would expect, but theres real, scientific proof for it now. If we tell our stories, it helps other people feel empowered. While the idea was mine, it wasnt only me that made this Highwomen be a thing. I could just trust based on how Leonard Cohen did all that work for us. Amanda Shires. Amanda Shires (born March 5, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and violin player. 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. Shires has released six solo albums, her most recent To The Sunset on the Silver Knife label in 2018. 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. 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. Ive found and scrounged and continue to for every interview that hes done in any form, in any language. So by the time I went into the hospital, my fallopian tube had already ruptured. Elizaveta Porodina/Courtesy of the artist Curled up on the floor with it all. I would like to challenge other folks who have platforms to actually use them. But, yeah, after a while thinking about it, I got more comfortable with it. If youre just joining us, my guest is songwriter, singer and musician Amanda Shires. In Portland, he led the band (including his wife on fiddle) through charging, heartfelt songs that often sounded like the cavalry was coming. Shires new album, Take It Like A Man, includes several songs she wrote that came out of a difficult period in her marriage to Jason Isbell. People are still going to get abortions, and were going to have to keep peoples secrets, and house people, and try to do the best we can. If writing came easier sober, playing live was terrifying at first, he says. Also, during this time when I was leaving, I was thinking about how [my daughter] Mercy picked up a kazoo and she could play a kazoo. And you got your start professionally at age 15 playing fiddle with the Texas Playboys. But they also understood that I was a kid. They all feel good, he says of making records, and they all feel really bad when youre working, simultaneously.. GROSS: Well, I want to play a song performed by The Highwomen, and the song is actually called The Highwomen, and its a song sung from the point of view of different women. Im going to play fiddle and Im going to sing in. It was Fault Lines.. On August 9, 2021 my fallopian tube ruptured. And there was a guy that also played the guitar, like a multi-instrumentalist side person. Elizaveta Porodina/Courtesy of the artist, Naming The Beast: Jason Isbell And Amanda Shires On Speaking Up In 2017. How did you manage to do that? Ive been around so many people for so long who were. Shires plays fiddle in the band. It took Dave Cobb and it took Brandi and then it took Natalie [Hemby] and Maren Morris. I laid hands upon the world. And it was a Carrie Underwood song from it was, like, six years before that or something. Because once you have a baby, theres no social programming to help. As if to match it, she experimented for the first time with filtering the sound of her fiddle through effects pedals, which lends her playing a fierce luminescence. And these guys are in their 70s and 80s, and it was very much like hanging out with lots of granddads. I dont have certain kinds of fatigue. Where the fuck are the rest of them? Or is this through listening to his records that you feel like youre his disciple? That way, there could be a more kind of a wider effort to try and have the conversation with folks and realize that youre not alone. So I started just taking notes on the radio because I heard it. It's a sentiment that Shires has echoed many times since. In a June 2022 follow-up, the artist detailed for Rolling Stone her experience of ending a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy in August 2021. We want to hear it. Along 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. The song is called Empty Cups.. And in this certain period of time, there was a lot. And, you know, I didnt know that this was a thing you should normally ask to do cause I was young. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time So when I would write the songs, I dont know whats going to come out, but sometimes, it was so I was just so down that the only way I could get better was to take it out on writing a song. Well be right back. Oh, I could have crowed. One is a Honduran asylum-seeker who died while trying to cross the border. I never wouldve thought that before, but now I know its true. Thats abundantly clear on his breakout new album, Southeastern, one of the years best in any genre. And I know that he likes to help. We have Olivia Rodrigo and Phoebe Bridgers speaking up, and Ariana Grande. I dont care if somebody wants to put a target on me. Then I get to the end of the recording process and try to decide what makes the best collection of songs. For those who are unfamiliar, it is impossible for an ectopic pregnancy to go to term. In 2016 I was going on the road. Where would that leave my own daughter? But if you dont, youre going to be wondering, What didnt I do? And because of that, I felt like we should make it something thats as safe as it can possibly be. And Natalie said, I want the one about preaching. I would have died had this procedure not been available to me. So did you ever visit her at work? 825 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10019, WNET is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Amanda Rose Shires (born March 5, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and fiddle player. For my children, I did what I had to do. 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. And after we recorded it, he said, Thats a really good song. And I said, Thats all you have to say. You can keep the car and the house. But I am living still. Why werent you accepting it? I was lucky. GROSS: Good. I was playing a music festival, and I noticed that there was a fiddle on stage with Billy Joe. SHIRES: (Singing) If you want a lover, Ill do anything you ask me to. GROSS: So that was Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys from 1940, their song, New San Antonio Rose, with Leon McAuliffe on steel guitar. 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It was keeping me up at night. We have to work hard now to mobilize and help people vote. requiring proof of vaccination or proof of a recent negative COVID test, even facing backlash from his fellow artists, Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. To keep the newness from wearing off, for every start theres gonna be a stop. SHIRES: My whole left arm is tattoos of Leonard Cohen. Bergen is a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek. 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. I want Garth Brooks out there telling people that womens health is a priority. 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. I was learning orchestra and classical music in school and privately. And then my mom would drive me down there. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. And thank you so much for having me as a guest. SHIRES: On August 9, yes, I was in Texas at Austin City Limits. You can say its all my fault. And hes saying, you know, basically that hes going to support her and hes there for her. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. But it was true. So when you started taking lessons with Frankie McWhorter and then became part of the band, how much did you know about Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys? And I was reading mine. How are we going to police that? Never one to shy away from his beliefs, Isbell implored his fellow man, in Alabama or otherwise, to get vaccinated, that is, if they wanted to see him perform in person, hoping to make a difference. SHIRES: Thats all you have to say? Since starting I So Lounging, Shires YouTube following has grown 300 percent. What does he have to lose? I was snared by your wrist. We try to have as much fun as possible singing a bunch of sad-ass songs, he said from the stage with one of the few grins hed allow himself. After trailing off there, she draws a thorny conclusion about the web of intimate, familial dependency: "Maybe being human is an orphaned condition and what's missing isn't what should be found. People will have to prove that they have been raped. Singer, songwriter and fiddle player Amanda Shires still remembers the moment she fell in love with the fiddle. And I was really into that. GROSS: Well, I want to take a short break here. Isbell said everyone attending the bands shows would also be required to wear a mask. Its yet another thing that, when policing does happen, is going to happen haphazardly and ruin lives. And she came over and I showed her. But I did move a couple of times out of the house, not because it was a leaving thing, but because I didnt want to do anything that would harm, you know, make it worse. But for me, I was just happy to be up there playing music I loved. Why not? Jason Isbell will put his tour on hold after announcing he tested positive with for COVID-19. Interracial marriages cant happen. Privacy rights are going to be gone. GROSS: You forced yourself in the position of having him hear you play? Thats, like, part of your identity on Twitter. 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. 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. And here it sits. And my hands are two empty cups. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. SHIRES: Yep, yep on his songs without asking him. Dont support artists who dont support your rights. I had to spend the night with her at work. 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. We found music, and then being in the Shoals area just gave us an early look at all the places music can take you. A few hours later, his band is peeling the wallpaper with their customary encore cover tune. SHIRES: I forced myself in that position. I didnt believe it. But one time, you know, not everybody could make a show. And Bob Wills was, like, the father of Western Swing, which combined country music and jazz. And because I was in the time of my life where I was having a disconnect in my marriage and not feeling great in with music but I discovered that it takes a lot to be vulnerable, and it takes a lot to talk to folks and to understand each other. SHIRES: (Singing) Im scared to even say the truth. When she paints a picture of motherhood in the subdued jangle-pop number "Charms," she doesn't dwell on its oft-idealized and sentimentalized facets. GROSS: Amanda Shires, its been such a pleasure to talk with you. Yeah without you asking. This is FRESH AIR. Im glad to hear it. Home to the Grand Ole Opry from 1943-1974, the Ryman earned the moniker \"Mother Church of Country Music\" as the genres of country and bluegrass developed on its stage and found a national audience on radio and television. So lets hear a song about when things werent so all right. Fellow singer/songwriter Aimee Mann tweeted well wishes to Isbell: Im so sorry. Singer, songwriter and fiddle player Amanda Shires still remembers the moment she fell in love with the fiddle. SHIRES: No, not until a couple of years ago. He could still leave it dish in the sink, you know? 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. At age 34, hes got the baggy eyes of a man who has spent a lot of time thinking hard late at night. Its pretty obvious.. To see more, visit. Someone saw me sleeping naked in the noon sun. Ive found and scrounged and continued to for every interview that hes done in any form and any language. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Amanda Shires has become a coveted presence at the intersection of nervy artistry and activism, folk and country acclaim, rock attitude and Nashville influence. And he said, try playing this one. Got myself a breakthrough case of Covid, the Alabama-born artist tweeted Tuesday. I know what the cost is in the octaves of consequence. And I told my mom to come over because I had something to show her. My family left Honduras when they killed the Sandinistas. SHIRES: I mean OK Im going to call her up after this, too. Its not more threatening than the idea of taking away the services and the work that doctors and nurses do. If youre just joining us, my guest is songwriter, singer, musician Amanda Shires. This is FRESH AIR. GROSS: Amanda Shires, how did you decide you wanted to write a song about abortion? SHIRES: Sure. 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. The spurs of hip bones Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. Musicians accountable wed play some of it hes saying, you know, our! Maren Morris and Id learn them Empty Cups.. and in this certain period of time, you?! That access to abortion and reproductive healthcare is not just about terminating unwanted pregnancy,... It something thats as safe as it can possibly be internally bleeding for a whole of... 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