And there was a guy that also played the guitar, like a multi-instrumentalist side person. So Im going to ask you to play one more song from your new album, to perform it for us. 825 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10019, WNET is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Its a lot like writing a song about it. fiddle-playing damn Texan. How did you come up with the image of my hands are two empty cups? I see you talking, but I cant hear a thing. That last talk left me a makeup rainbow of tears, turned everything blurry. She makes the decision before it gets to the point where she makes a mistake, and I like that. When Shires was in the hospital giving birth to their daughter, Mercy, in 2015, she had to disclose to her doctor, with her husband and mother in the room, that shed had an abortion. And he said, well, you can always put it on there and just choose not to answer questions about it and, you know or you can he was pushing for me to leave Fault Lines on there because it is a good song, as he said. SHIRES: (Singing) Trying not to think of names. Because once you have a baby, theres no social programming to help. Rock & roll kids just let decisions make themselves. 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. 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. Jason Isbell) Official Video ft. Jason Isbell Watch on Tour Dates Track to get concert, live stream and tour updates. OK. Elizaveta Porodina/Courtesy of the artist And I know that he feels the same way I do. So either you have surgery or I think you die. If writing came easier sober, playing live was terrifying at first, he says. I would like to challenge other folks who have platforms to actually use them. No more? GROSS: Thats Empty Cups from Amanda Shires new album, Take It Like A Man. Thats such a great song, Amanda. And thank you so much for having me as a guest. I think she probably knew 100%, but.. SHIRES: Thank you so much. So theres thinking my thinking is that my granddad married my grandmother knowing that she was pregnant with somebody elses child. 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. And we met. And in this certain period of time, there was a lot. And if you want a doctor, Ill examine every inch of you. It goes, (singing) I woke up this morning, and I looked out my door. How did you manage to do that? And here it sits. And he said, try playing this one. I cried, I asked and I balled. Recently, I had an ectopic pregnancy, she tweeted. Theyre just songs because everybody goes through troubles in their relationship. I tried so hard to make myself clear. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. It took me a minute to really learn how to improvise, Shires says of those early years. 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. In 2020, The Highwomen won Album of the Year at the Americana Music Honors and Awards ceremony. SHIRES: On August 9, yes, I was in Texas at Austin City Limits. GROSS: Yeah. It took Dave Cobb and it took Brandi and then it took Natalie [Hemby] and Maren Morris. 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. It sounds like you were about to leave the marriage. Trump Melts Down Over Murdoch Admitting Fox Lied About Election Fraud, If you say those things out loud, it makes a difference. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. But theres a medication you can take that aborts the fertilized egg from your fallopian tube. I just feel like that invites a lot of conversation and questions, you know, into our marriage and our relationship. I mean, only just now nine months later, interestingly enough have I returned to having normal periods. We both know that none of that was keeping, keeping me anyhow. Or is this through listening to his records that you feel like youre his disciple? SHIRES: I mean, I think theyre pretty good. Lawrence Rothman has been a model of self accepting themselves. 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. 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 Lanny Fiel, he would say, youre really, really great at the parts you love. I dont care if somebody wants to put a target on me. 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. GROSS: You know, youve said that a lot of the songs on this album come from a troubled period of your marriage to songwriter and singer Jason Isbell, who you perform with and who plays on this album. 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 I know that he likes to help. When it came down to it, when I finally got it done and recorded, Amy Coney Barrett had gotten sworn in. In my case, I blame the education system, but I didnt even know what an ectopic pregnancy was. 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. Jason Isbell performs in Gulf Shores, Alabama. And Bob Wills was, like, the father of Western Swing, which combined country music and jazz. Im going to play fiddle and Im going to sing in. Along You can call me serious trouble. 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. Refunds at point of purchase but were working on rescheduling. GROSS: Lets take another break here. And then I asked Chance, and Chance was like, no, those are real documents. I never wouldve thought that before, but now I know its true. Theyre just, you know, scans of them. GROSS: Amanda Shires, how did you decide you wanted to write a song about abortion? Theres nothing left to fix. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. SHIRES: Yep, yep on his songs without asking him. Here was my life five years ago, and heres my life now. GROSS: So you ended up, like, accompanying him. Victoria is scheduled to open for Isbell on this tour. Ive found and scrounged and continued to for every interview that hes done in any form and any language. GROSS: Well, thank you for doing that. So lets do that. Then I told my friend Dave Cobb about my idea and he really liked it, and he said, Im going to have you meet Brandi Carlile. I know the cost of flight is landing. And then you also youve got guys thatll back you up. Michael Schmelling. 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. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. "Maybe it was circumstance, but I saw my chance and I took it," she boasts, her tone fuzzed-out by distortion. 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 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. Then her character takes control of the exchange in a teasing tone. 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. 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. I hope you get well soon. Isbell responded, Thank you Aimee. I am your man. Then I tried recording it in a couple of other situations, and I just didnt have it right yet. Lets get back to my interview with Amanda Shires, a great singer and songwriter who also co-founded the band The Highwomen, which is a kind of all-star country music band. GROSS: That sounds really, really awful. Cancelling shows feels awful, I know. Im so glad you wrote it. 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. Weve had legal abortions for 50 years and now, suddenly, a long-held right will be illegal. And Zachs going to play guitar. Yet, Isbell noted, the problem is that many of the venue owners are getting so much pushback from some of the governors of certain states who want to kowtow to their political base.. And but I think for the players in the band, they took me seriously as a player. As it turns out, it did start some conversations within our own families. SHIRES: Sure. Learn more about his tour. I got up to sing, and I was like, oh, crap. Will you look at me the same? I was doing fine, and then, I was just like no sound would come out of my mouth. 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. I want to talk with you about The Highwomen. Like, do you say, hey, honey, heres a song I wrote about how bad things are between us right now? So I couldnt really get into it. If you share your story or share your beliefs, youre going to get some haters and trolls. Every one of them except for me survived. And then, really, while the idea was mine, it wasnt only me that made The Highwomen be a thing. You can keep the car and the house. Got myself a breakthrough case of Covid- feeling fine but well have to cancel the next few shows (Asheville, Louisville, Columbus, Wilkes-Barre, and Wilmington). To keep the newness from wearing off, for every start theres gonna be a stop. SHIRES: I just I have never been a fan of the way my voice sounds. GROSS: Was this your mothers father or your fathers father? I could just trust based on how Leonard Cohen did all that work for us. You used to lean in like I was whispering, any excuse to get near again. I got to a certain age and realized I couldnt be Indiana Jones.. 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. Tax ID: 26-2810489, Copyright 2022 Fresh Air. AMANDA SHIRES: (Singing) Youre leaving now through the hole of an argument. Oh, I could have crowed. How did you decide to say that these songs are really about a bad period of your marriage? Having recently moved to Nashville with Shires whose own fourth solo album, Down Fell the Doves, comes out next week the newlyweds will sequester themselves in different corners of the house to write new songs, then play them for each other. 'Mandalorian' star Pedro Pascal, creators on new Grogu revelations and 'Last of Us' comparisons, Saved by the bell: Contestant ordered to keep mask on, in historic 'Masked Singer' first, Chris Pine admits 'it does look' like Harry Styles spit on him but this is what actually happened, Rebel Wilson 'collapsed' after Ramona Agruma proposal: 'I was so overwhelmed', Amy Grant recalls being 'so scared' to return to touring following serious bike accident. 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. But they also understood that I was a kid. Snubbing the King: Why Don't Big Stars Want to Perform at Charles' Coronation? So I was left to the radio choices of sports ball and country top 40 country music. And it was a picture of hands holding on to nothing. I just fell in love with the music, is what happened. 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. Youve been very outspoken about the right to have an abortion. Not standing up for folks is not helping and its not right. Then I get to the end of the recording process and try to decide what makes the best collection of songs. SHIRES: Ive listened to all of his records. We found out that, yes, our grandmothers are pro-choice. Moon, in all your splendor. I had no problem taking direction, but and I had no problem helping when I needed to help, so. Amanda Shires has become a coveted presence at the intersection of nervy artistry and activism, folk and country acclaim, rock attitude and Nashville influence. Is that right? I guess for awhile youve been looking for the exit. "Through a sunset, shifting gears, to the something better shining diamond clear.". I was lucky. You can just say Im crazy. 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. Our guest will be Mark Bergen, author of the new book Like, Comment, Subscribe in which he reports on how YouTube ushered in a world of abundant content and creativity of influencers and online hustlers, of information overload and endless culture wars. And so you know Ill say, I dont know, but no ones going to be asking me. In 2020, she penned an op-ed for Rolling Stone about why abortion rights matter. And I kept imagining, like, how I had nothing left to give and nothing I could do or say to make anything feel right, like, within me somehow. Interracial marriages cant happen. Privacy rights are going to be gone. (Singing) Time was all Id want. Singer, songwriter and fiddle player Amanda Shires still remembers the moment she fell in love with the fiddle. Editors picks Amanda Rose Shires (born March 5, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and fiddle player. I own one of his guitars and. On top of that, Shires notes, the pro-life stance doesnt typically extend past birth. 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. It was it took Dave Cobb and it took Brandi, and then it took Natalie and Maren Morris. I hope that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, it causes such a fucking uproar that we end up with more rights than we had before. Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, well talk about the power, promise and potential harm of YouTube. Shes also one of the founders of the group the Highwomen. GROSS: Lawrence Rothman produced your new album. Like, I know that in all of the searching that he did still believe that there was something bigger out there. And your verse, you are somebody who thinks of herself as a healer but was hung in the gallows during the Salem witch trials. 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. GROSS: You grew up in Lubbock, Texas, and Mineral Wells, Texas. SHIRES: About singing, yes. And it also made me stronger in the fact that I could feel comfortable singing about it and talking about it. And then and neither of them told us that stuff. Its as opposed to being in the uterus, where it belongs. And hed play songs, and Id learn them. This has been the hardest year. And I was still dealing with all of it two and a half weeks later. SHIRES: I began writing that song when I did the record My Piece Of Land a long while back. Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble. It rings out like its supposed to. The tracks release At age 34, hes got the baggy eyes of a man who has spent a lot of time thinking hard late at night. The next year, she won a Grammy for best americana album as part of her husbands group, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. For doing that then and neither of them youre going to ask you play. Of conversation and questions, you know, scans of them also understood that could... Country top 40 country music and jazz 2022 Fresh Air to leave the marriage music. Never been a fan of the way my voice sounds haters and trolls new. Records that you feel like that invites a lot of conversation and questions, you know, our! And try to decide what makes the decision before it gets to the point she. 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