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. SHIRES: Honestly, a lot of times, my thoughts come to me just in pictures. SHIRES: I didnt know I was going to work it into a song until I got to the to writing it. Amanda Shires. SHIRES: I just I have never been a fan of the way my voice sounds. We have to work hard now to mobilize and help people vote. 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? The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time GROSS: So this track features you, Natalie Hemby and Yola as a guest artist on it. And while I I know the voice that I have is what I have. Lets get back to the interview I recorded last week with singer, songwriter and fiddle player Amanda Shires. It was love at first listen. See where your favorite artists and songs rank on the Rolling Stone Charts. But they also understood that I was a kid. Ive listened to all of his records. Just admit Im what you want. I remember I used to think the force was strong with him, says Tompkins, who signed his first publishing deal when he moved to Nashville at 22. And I said, yes, Id love to. Hearing these stories, I think that it makes your backbone stronger. I accept it now. The Mandalorian Season Three Gets Off to a Disappointing Start Thats, like, part of your identity on Twitter. All the time, the want, the overwhelming volume of breathing. Recently, I had an ectopic pregnancy, she tweeted. Amanda Shires and Jason Isbell depict a couple having an honest, difficult conversation about abortion in the new song The Problem.. And thats when the fertilized egg stays in the fallopian tube. So lets hear a song about when things werent so all right. Me and @JasonIsbell RCA studio B making a musical recording. 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 but I think for the players in the band, they took me seriously as a player. And then you also youve got guys thatll back you up. Theres a lot of things you do with your hands, but it struck me the most is matching the feeling of desperation or even begging. ", 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. Dont support artists who dont support your rights. And it just worked when we did it. But I just got up on a stage and took the fiddle and started playing it. Its not competition, Isbell makes clear with a chuckle. 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. And I was trying to sing that song A Little Walk With You (ph). So I started just taking notes on the radio because in 22 songs, [I heard] one womans voice and it was a Carrie Underwood song from six years before that or something. Singer, songwriter and fiddle player Amanda Shires still remembers the moment she fell in love with the fiddle. (SOUNDBITE OF AMANDA SHIRES SONG, HAWK FOR THE DOVE), GROSS: Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. And we met. You can have as much fun. 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. I mean, only just now nine months later, interestingly enough have I returned to having normal periods. Or did you keep the songs, like, kind of secret for a while? With vacations lagging and the dangerous delta variant spreading, the United States is averaging more than 100,000 new cases a day for the first time since early February. I want to talk with you about The Highwomen. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time Chris Tompkins, a high school friend who has co-written mainstream country hits including Carrie Underwoods Before He Cheats and Florida Georgia Lines Get Your Shine On, says Isbell seemed on a different level even back when they were covering Stairway to Heaven together. I laid hands upon the world. Im glad to be a listener and also glad to see folks from those generations supporting the right to choose. I remember thinking, Wow, theres a lot of potential for me to really mess this up.'. Jason Isbell Releases Death Wish' From New Album NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) Three months after an emergency heart transplant, Grammy-nominated keyboardist, producer, songwriter and artist Peter Levin GROSS: You know, your husband plays on this album, but the songs are about a bad period in your marriage. GROSS: Well, I want to take a short break here. SHIRES: (Singing) Trying not to think of names. 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 I was reading mine. And that song, its part my story and part, you know, stories I know from friends. Shires, who was touring with the Texas Playboys when she was still a teenager, has a sense of responsibility thats been good for him, he says. Theres not a lot of filler, not a lot of songs I would skip through, he says. Thank you for performing for us. And the fallopian tube just cant it it cant expand enough to accommodate a growing fetus. 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. 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. The song is called Empty Cups.. SHIRES: Thank you so much. You can say I lost my grip. It took me a minute to really learn how to improvise, Shires says of those early years. 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. So lets do that. 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 mean, is it fatal for a woman if nothing is done? Wade was leaked last month, Amanda Shires shared some personal news on social media. And I dont know how I feel about that. So heres my guest, Amanda Shires, and Jason Isbell singing her song, The Problem.. It was there I found, beside the Alamo, enchantment, strange as the blue up above. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. (Singing) Time was all Id want. Amanda Shires' To the Sunset comes out Aug. 3. Singer, songwriter and fiddle player Amanda Shires still remembers the moment she fell in love with the fiddle. And thank you for putting up with me. But one time, you know, not everybody could make a show. In 2019, she founded a country music supergroup called The Highwomen alongside Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby. Note: NPR's First Listen audio comes down after the album is released. SHIRES: You want to come to the play the show tomorrow night, too? So it was just like a week and a half or two weeks afterwards that Texas banned abortion. I had to spend the night with her at work. And luckily, my teacher was one of those good and rare teachers that notices when you know, when a student needs a little more help. 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. Im Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR. And he said, try playing this one. Since publishing my op-ed, Ive heard from some folks who are in their eighties. Some people are upset at the way iPhones charge. "Maybe it was circumstance, but I saw my chance and I took it," she boasts, her tone fuzzed-out by distortion. What didnt I say that could have helped change one mind? I cant live with the idea of not speaking up. SHIRES: Thats all you have to say? When we overturn Roe, we risk going back to, Oh, now same-sex marriages cant happen. Are they just going to sit around and drink beer? As Delta Variant Spreads, Artists and Venues Scramble to Keep Concerts Safe (Rolling Stone), Live Nation Allows Artists to Require Vaccination or Proof of Negative Test Result for U.S. Concerts (Variety), This is a BETA experience. SHIRES: Yep, yep on his songs without asking him. And here it sits. 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. In 2020, The Highwomen won album of the year at the Americana Music Honors & Awards ceremony. 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. SHIRES: Oh, I would have had to find somebody to drive me to Mexico or somewhere else. And her latest album is called Take It Like A Man. Well be right back after a short break. Shes not really a rock & roll kid, for lack of a better term. And I said, OK. And then I fell in love. GROSS: Lets take another break here. I just feel like that invites a lot of conversation and questions, you know, into our marriage and our relationship. 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. GROSS: That sounds really, really awful. A woman threw a house party with 65 men she matched with on Tinder and Hinge and connected with the man she's been dating for a year. Soon after a Supreme Court draft ruling that would overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked last month, Amanda Shires shared some personal news on social media. Why not? GROSS: Thats the title song from the new album. And then you also get to play you get to improvise, which is when you go off the page, as they say, or you just play what you feel within the chords. And after he did his time, he didnt say anything about it. GROSS: Amanda Shires, its been such a pleasure to talk with you. And as it happened, eventually the auxiliary cable quit working in the van. And if you want another kind of love, Ill wear a mask for you. And when I would write these songs, it was never in my mind, oh, I have to record them. On August 10, my life was savedthese are some dark days.. I had no problem taking direction, but and I had no problem helping when I needed to help, so. Amanda Shires' To the Sunset comes out Aug. 3. The majority of people are in favor of womens reproductive rights and health; its others were trying to get to. And a lot of its multilayered, the meaning take it like a man. But I thought, what am I going to do about that in the event that she does go into country music? GROSS: Good. SHIRES: And I think Sheryl Crow plays bass on that one. Like, do you say, hey, honey, heres a song I wrote about how bad things are between us right now? SHIRES: Yeah. 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. So by the time I went into the hospital, my fallopian tube had already ruptured. Where are our Nashville folks? However, you can still listen with the Spotify or Apple Music playlist at the bottom of the page. And one day, we wound up in the studio, and we cut the song. 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. It took Dave Cobb and it took Brandi and then it took Natalie [Hemby] and Maren Morris. They all feel good, he says of making records, and they all feel really bad when youre working, simultaneously.. Ive found and scrounged and continued to for every interview that hes done in any form and any language. Along This part of my life and our marriage was difficult and it took me back to the reason I came to writing and doing music in the first place, which is expression, she says. hide caption. Say whatever feels better or whatever. I dont understand why its such a big issue, as big of an issue as it is. Essentially, shes just a good person. Its yet another thing that, when policing does happen, is going to happen haphazardly and ruin lives. But whatever. Not standing up for folks is not helping and its not right. And I really liked it. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Amy Salit, Phyllis Myers, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Heidi Saman, Therese Madden, Ann Marie Baldonado, Thea Chaloner, Seth Kelley and Susan Nyakundi. After Isbell announced last week that he would require enhanced Covid countermeasures at his show in Austin, Texas, singer-songwriter Marc Broussard took to Twitter to lash out at Isbell, calling him bourgeois and elitist. Broussard asserted, Some working-class fans cant afford the risks associated with either the vaccines or even getting a test, adding, Id rather quit music than become a pawn in the pressure campaign. He did not provide any evidence of the risks he claimed were associated with getting the jab or receiving a test. I would she would set us up in the in the closet of the bail bonds office. GROSS: The bail bondsmen are often their offices are often located in a very low-rent part of town. Demographer Diana Greene Foster conducted a 10-year study tracking both people who had abortions and people who were denied abortions. GROSS: Amanda Shires, how did you decide you wanted to write a song about abortion? And then and neither of them told us that stuff. The sound of silence rings in every room. I heard in 22 songs, one womans voice I heard. Well definitely get to your verse, which is the second one. ISBELL: (Singing) Im on your side. You may opt-out by, U.S. Then I tried recording it in a couple of other situations, and I just didnt have it right yet. Its a great song, so I thought wed play some of it. 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. And sometimes, you know, you can, like, cup your hands and drink water from them or you could cup your hands and I dont know. And if you want a doctor, Ill examine every inch of you. Thank you for your songs. And I was still dealing with all of it two and a half weeks later. Jason Isbell and his wife, Amanda Shires, were walking around last weekend in Newport, Rhode Island, where they played the Newport Folk Festival. How did you decide to say that these songs are really about a bad period of your marriage? In "Leave It Alone," a song introduced by a brittle, programmed loop and a jangly, arpeggiated guitar figure, she elegantly describes exploring a new lover's body: "Hands find the places where they've never been, to know for themselves new surfaces / And mine, they've got a mind of their own / I can't leave it alone." Its not more threatening than the idea of taking away the services and the work that doctors and nurses do. Ninety-five percent of study participants who did have an abortion still stood by their decision. SHIRES: (Singing) Im scared to even say the truth. I also received responses from trolls. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/1lq9aEQTour the Ryman: http://bit.ly/tourtherymanVisit the Ryman Calendar: http://bit.ly/rymanconcertsAbout the Ryman Auditorium:Established in 1982 as the Union Gospel Tabernacle and renamed for the visionary who constructed it, Captain Tom G. Ryman, the Ryman Auditorium is a National Historic Landmark and cultural epicenter of Nashville, TN. Im not joking. And I think theres more valuable strength there than there is in suppressing your emotions and poisoning yourself with your own feelings, I guess. How Trump's Team Conned Susan Collins Into Dooming Roe v. Wade, Add Abortion to the List of Things Republicans Are Blaming for Uvalde, Want to Know What Politics Looks Like After Roe? So its probably important to stay alive before you start questioning your liberty.. A parking lot at night is a setting in which many women have learned to feel unsafe, to hurry about their business with heightened awareness that any strange figure approaching may have sinister intentions. Hearing Shires spell that out is invigorating. Im going to change the subject here. 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. Is a chrysalis a butterfly? With artists and concert promoters nationwide forced to confront a surging spike in infections and hospitalizations attributed to the spread of the delta variant, Grammy award-winning musician, Jason Isbell, announced Monday that he and his band, the 400 Unit, will require concertgoers to provide proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test to attend all their future shows, whether they are held indoors or outdoors. "I'm daring to do what she couldn't bring herself to do," Shires ruminates, shadowed by her own feathery harmonies. And I dont know. 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. 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