Biography
Emerging as a standout presence in the Americana scene across the 2010s and 2020s, Amanda Shires first built acclaim as an elite-level fiddler before earning notice for her abilities as a creative and expressive vocalist and songwriter. Her contributions extended to recordings by an array of performers including Beck, John Prine, Blackberry Smoke, and Todd Snider, while she served as a core participant in Jason Isbell's backing group the 400 Unit as well as the all-female Americana supergroup the Highwomen. Solo releases gave her scope to pursue broader sonic and thematic directions, ranging from the alt country leanings of Carrying Lightning (2011) and the wide-ranging rock and pop focus of To the Sunset (2018) to the refined partnership with Bobbie Nelson on 2023's Loving You. Her flexible approach also encompassed vintage soul textures, '60s-styled pop, introspective indie rock, and atmospheric goth-tinged epics throughout the bold 2022 album Take It Like a Man.
Amanda Shires entered the world in Lubbock, Texas on March 5, 1982. Following her parents' divorce during her early childhood, she alternated between Lubbock—where her mother worked as a nurse—and Mineral Wells, Texas, roughly 250 miles distant, where her father ran a wholesale nursery. At age ten, while visiting a pawn shop with her father, she spotted a secondhand violin that prompted her to convince him to purchase it. Self-instruction on the instrument proved challenging, leading her at age 12 to begin lessons with multi-instrumentalist Lanny Fiel, whose résumé at various points included the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra and Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band. Noting her advancement, Fiel recommended study with Frankie McWhorter, a veteran of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys who continued performing with a later incarnation of the ensemble. McWhorter extended an invitation for Shires to join the Texas Playboys at age 15, thereby launching her professional path.
By 2001 Shires had become part of the Lubbock-based alt country outfit the Thrift Store Cowboys, appearing on three of their albums. Her debut solo outing, Being Brave, arrived in 2005 via the independent Yellowhouse imprint. Fiddle and vocal work on Rod Picott's 2007 release Summerbirds led to an on-stage and off-stage partnership; the pair issued two joint albums, 2008's Rod Picott & Amanda Shires and 2009's Sew Your Heart with Wires, while Shires also delivered her second solo effort that year, the self-released West Cross Timbers. Having moved to Nashville, she made her screen debut in the 2011 film Country Strong as part of the backing ensemble for the character Nashville star Kelly Canter, portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow. Also in 2011 she signed with the Nashville roots label Lightning Rod Records, which facilitated a wider release of her previously self-issued third LP, Carrying Lightning. Around the same period she began a relationship with acclaimed singer-songwriter Jason Isbell and added violin to his 2011 album Here We Rest. (Although her romantic involvement with Rod Picott had ended, the two remained on good terms, allowing her participation in the sessions for his 2011 album Welding Burns.)
The year 2013 proved pivotal: Shires and Jason Isbell wed, she issued her well-received fourth solo album Down Fell the Doves, and Isbell released his commercial and critical breakthrough Southeastern, on which she performed as a full-time member of his backing band the 400 Unit. Studio and guest opportunities proliferated, with appearances on projects by Beck, Neal Casal, Justin Townes Earle, Wanda Jackson, and Todd Snider. In 2015 Isbell followed Southeastern with Something More Than Free, again featuring Shires on violin and vocals, and in 2016 she delivered her own new solo set, My Piece of Land. That release marked her strongest commercial showing to date, registering on the national sales rankings across the rock, Americana, and independent charts. The next year brought Grammy recognition when Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit's 2017 album The Nashville Sound earned Best Americana Album honors. Later in 2017 the Americana Music Awards named Shires Emerging Artist of the Year; she toured with songwriting icon John Prine and contributed to his final album, 2018's The Tree of Forgiveness. Produced by Dave Cobb, who also helmed Shires' subsequent solo project To the Sunset (2018), the record incorporated additional rock and pop elements that moved beyond strict Americana conventions and achieved both critical and commercial success, reaching number 36 on the Top Albums chart.
Extensive touring exposed Shires to country radio's limited representation of women in the Nashville mainstream, prompting her to assemble the country/Americana supergroup the Highwomen—a name referencing the '80s country supergroup the Highwaymen, whose members were Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson—alongside fellow independent-minded country artists Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, and Natalie Hemby. The Highwomen's self-titled debut topped the Country Albums chart and climbed to number ten on the all-genre tally. Consistent with her pattern of guest appearances, Shires added her talents to recordings by Josh Ritter, Luke Combs, and Lilly Hiatt, and joined Isbell and the 400 Unit on Metallica's expansive tribute collection The Metallica Blacklist for a rendition of "Sad But True." She rejoined Isbell and the 400 Unit for 2020's Reunions, which reached number nine on the Top 200 album chart, and issued the holiday collection For Christmas in November 2021. That seasonal project was produced by Lawrence Rothman, a singer, songwriter, and producer whose prior collaborators included Kim Gordon, Margo Price, and Lady Gaga. Rothman had invited Shires to contribute vocals to one of his endeavors, and she appreciated his exploratory studio methods; eager to extend the collaboration, she enlisted him for 2022's Take It Like a Man, her debut on ATO Records and her most stylistically expansive and daring work. The album earned both critical and commercial attention, entering the Top Ten of the U.K. Americana album charts and peaking at number 25 on the Top Current Album Sales chart in the United States.
Shires and Jason Isbell were appointed Ambassadors for Record Store Day 2023, held on April 22; in support of the annual celebration of independent record stores they recorded an EP issued for the occasion. Sound Emporium contained one new track apiece from Shires and Isbell, a fresh version of Isbell's "Tour of Duty," and a cover of Richard Thompson's "Beeswing." In 2021 Shires captured sessions in Texas alongside Bobbie Nelson, Willie Nelson's sister and longtime band pianist of more than four decades; Shires has cited Nelson as the first woman she observed performing onstage with a touring group, an experience that encouraged her own musical ambitions. Bobbie Nelson passed away in March 2022, yet Shires finished the project, and Loving You appeared on ATO in June 2023. That same month she supplied fiddle and vocals to Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit's Weathervanes.
Amanda Shires entered the world in Lubbock, Texas on March 5, 1982. Following her parents' divorce during her early childhood, she alternated between Lubbock—where her mother worked as a nurse—and Mineral Wells, Texas, roughly 250 miles distant, where her father ran a wholesale nursery. At age ten, while visiting a pawn shop with her father, she spotted a secondhand violin that prompted her to convince him to purchase it. Self-instruction on the instrument proved challenging, leading her at age 12 to begin lessons with multi-instrumentalist Lanny Fiel, whose résumé at various points included the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra and Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band. Noting her advancement, Fiel recommended study with Frankie McWhorter, a veteran of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys who continued performing with a later incarnation of the ensemble. McWhorter extended an invitation for Shires to join the Texas Playboys at age 15, thereby launching her professional path.
By 2001 Shires had become part of the Lubbock-based alt country outfit the Thrift Store Cowboys, appearing on three of their albums. Her debut solo outing, Being Brave, arrived in 2005 via the independent Yellowhouse imprint. Fiddle and vocal work on Rod Picott's 2007 release Summerbirds led to an on-stage and off-stage partnership; the pair issued two joint albums, 2008's Rod Picott & Amanda Shires and 2009's Sew Your Heart with Wires, while Shires also delivered her second solo effort that year, the self-released West Cross Timbers. Having moved to Nashville, she made her screen debut in the 2011 film Country Strong as part of the backing ensemble for the character Nashville star Kelly Canter, portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow. Also in 2011 she signed with the Nashville roots label Lightning Rod Records, which facilitated a wider release of her previously self-issued third LP, Carrying Lightning. Around the same period she began a relationship with acclaimed singer-songwriter Jason Isbell and added violin to his 2011 album Here We Rest. (Although her romantic involvement with Rod Picott had ended, the two remained on good terms, allowing her participation in the sessions for his 2011 album Welding Burns.)
The year 2013 proved pivotal: Shires and Jason Isbell wed, she issued her well-received fourth solo album Down Fell the Doves, and Isbell released his commercial and critical breakthrough Southeastern, on which she performed as a full-time member of his backing band the 400 Unit. Studio and guest opportunities proliferated, with appearances on projects by Beck, Neal Casal, Justin Townes Earle, Wanda Jackson, and Todd Snider. In 2015 Isbell followed Southeastern with Something More Than Free, again featuring Shires on violin and vocals, and in 2016 she delivered her own new solo set, My Piece of Land. That release marked her strongest commercial showing to date, registering on the national sales rankings across the rock, Americana, and independent charts. The next year brought Grammy recognition when Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit's 2017 album The Nashville Sound earned Best Americana Album honors. Later in 2017 the Americana Music Awards named Shires Emerging Artist of the Year; she toured with songwriting icon John Prine and contributed to his final album, 2018's The Tree of Forgiveness. Produced by Dave Cobb, who also helmed Shires' subsequent solo project To the Sunset (2018), the record incorporated additional rock and pop elements that moved beyond strict Americana conventions and achieved both critical and commercial success, reaching number 36 on the Top Albums chart.
Extensive touring exposed Shires to country radio's limited representation of women in the Nashville mainstream, prompting her to assemble the country/Americana supergroup the Highwomen—a name referencing the '80s country supergroup the Highwaymen, whose members were Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson—alongside fellow independent-minded country artists Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, and Natalie Hemby. The Highwomen's self-titled debut topped the Country Albums chart and climbed to number ten on the all-genre tally. Consistent with her pattern of guest appearances, Shires added her talents to recordings by Josh Ritter, Luke Combs, and Lilly Hiatt, and joined Isbell and the 400 Unit on Metallica's expansive tribute collection The Metallica Blacklist for a rendition of "Sad But True." She rejoined Isbell and the 400 Unit for 2020's Reunions, which reached number nine on the Top 200 album chart, and issued the holiday collection For Christmas in November 2021. That seasonal project was produced by Lawrence Rothman, a singer, songwriter, and producer whose prior collaborators included Kim Gordon, Margo Price, and Lady Gaga. Rothman had invited Shires to contribute vocals to one of his endeavors, and she appreciated his exploratory studio methods; eager to extend the collaboration, she enlisted him for 2022's Take It Like a Man, her debut on ATO Records and her most stylistically expansive and daring work. The album earned both critical and commercial attention, entering the Top Ten of the U.K. Americana album charts and peaking at number 25 on the Top Current Album Sales chart in the United States.
Shires and Jason Isbell were appointed Ambassadors for Record Store Day 2023, held on April 22; in support of the annual celebration of independent record stores they recorded an EP issued for the occasion. Sound Emporium contained one new track apiece from Shires and Isbell, a fresh version of Isbell's "Tour of Duty," and a cover of Richard Thompson's "Beeswing." In 2021 Shires captured sessions in Texas alongside Bobbie Nelson, Willie Nelson's sister and longtime band pianist of more than four decades; Shires has cited Nelson as the first woman she observed performing onstage with a touring group, an experience that encouraged her own musical ambitions. Bobbie Nelson passed away in March 2022, yet Shires finished the project, and Loving You appeared on ATO in June 2023. That same month she supplied fiddle and vocals to Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit's Weathervanes.
Albums
Take It Like A Man
2022
For Christmas
2021
Loving You
2021
To the Sunset
2018
Sea Songs
2015
Down Fell the Doves
2013
Sew Your Heart With Wires
2009
Singles
Blame It on the Mistletoe Christmassy 2022 (feat. Lawrence Rothman)
2022
Home to Me
2021
Gone for Christmas (feat. The McCrary Sisters)
2021
You Don't Get to Go
2021
Our Problem
2021
That's All
2020
The Problem (feat. Jason Isbell)
2020
Parking Lot Pirouette
2018
Eve's Daughter
2018
Leave It Alone
2018
Born in the U.S.A.
2014
Live
