While Shires might not have set out to make an album that reminds us of the power of women pursuing their own impulses, desires and ambitions with abandon, that perspective enlivens this bracing 10-song set. GROSS: How did you find that out? The timing of The Problem and the fact that its benefiting the Yellowhammer Fund are both important, as draconian, punitive abortion laws have been enacted in Alabama and neighboring states in the last year. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. Im going to play fiddle and Im going to sing in. We followed a coyote through the dust of Mexico. If you share your story or share your beliefs, youre going to get some haters and trolls. This fight is about more than just abortion. Theyve ended shows with Neil Youngs Like a Hurricane or Van Morrisons Into the Mystic. Tonight its the Rolling Stones Cant You Hear Me Knocking, and its ecstatic. 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. But I think folks forget that access to abortion and reproductive healthcare is not just about terminating unwanted pregnancy. Here Are The Republicans Who Want Him Kicked Out, Rupert Murdoch Must Tell Fox News Hosts To Stop Spreading Election Lies, Congressional Democrats Demand, Trump Attacks Rupert Murdoch And Fox NewsAgainClaiming Destruction Of America Amid Defamation Lawsuit, These U.S.-Listed Stocks SurgeAlibaba, Baidu And MoreAfter Chinas Economic Rebound, Top NFL Prospect Jalen Carter Charged For Alleged Role In Fatal Street Race, Bite-Sized TikTok Poetry Blows UpAlong With Growing Claims Of Plagiarism, As Delta Variant Spreads, Artists and Venues Scramble to Keep Concerts Safe, Live Nation Allows Artists to Require Vaccination or Proof of Negative Test Result for U.S. Concerts. credit: John Shearer. 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. Refunds at point of purchase but were working on rescheduling. So I would be studying my pieces. And the fallopian tube just cant it it cant expand enough to accommodate a growing fetus. The song is named "Parking Lot Pirouette" for its protagonist's graceful forwardness, her decisive movement to prolong a pleasurable dalliance. I said, itd be cool if I was The Highwomen or maybe had a band The Highwomen. I mean, many songwriters would say, oh, theyre not about me. I think she probably knew 100%, but.. She performs in several settings and has received awards in each of them. That last talk left me a makeup rainbow of tears, turned everything blurry. 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. I was playing a music festival, and I noticed that there was a fiddle on stage with Billy Joe. 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? 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. These really arent personal. The Idol: How HBOs Next Euphoria Became Twisted Torture Porn On your Twitter, you describe yourself as a disciple of Leonard Cohen. 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 did you decide to say that these songs are really about a bad period of your marriage? 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. Whereas before, I would just, in my mind, wish it was something different like Etta James or something. I heard in 22 songs, one womans voice I heard. I like the way these lines kind of happened in our lives and like tributaries in a way that we dont realize are happening. Its just like you would expect, but theres real, scientific proof for it now. But finding a voice now and sharing their stories now is as good as any time. And I remember the first time I sang ever, Leon Rausch had to hold my hand. And thats when the fertilized egg stays in the fallopian tube. SHIRES: Theres a medication that you cant take right now after, you know, about two weeks after this happened to me. So since they are personal songs, you had to decide to say that. So either you have surgery or I think you die. We have Olivia Rodrigo and Phoebe Bridgers speaking up, and Ariana Grande. fiddle-playing damn Texan. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time It sounds like you were about to leave the marriage. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. The most-watched episode was from April 8th, filmed the day after John Prine 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. (Singing) Time was all Id want. And it was a picture of hands holding on to nothing. Well definitely get to your verse, which is the second one. Learn more about his tour. SHIRES: I didnt know I was going to work it into a song until I got to the to writing it. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. GROSS: Whoa. 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. And how did you figure out what you wanted your point of view to be, you know, like, who the song would be about? If youre just joining us, my guest is Amanda Shires, and her latest album is called Take It Like A Man. This is FRESH AIR. But one time, you know, not everybody could make a show. But anyway so I went and I sat down in my barn of internal wandering. The spurs of hip bones Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. This is FRESH AIR. GROSS: So this track features you, Natalie Hemby and Yola as a guest artist on it. I know the cost of flight is landing. He still cant seem to notice when the dishwashers unloaded and all the dishes are put away. But I thought, what am I going to do about that in the event that she does go into country music? They do tell you that going out and helping other people really helps you a lot. Oh, I could have crowed. 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. Do you need the reasons why? She sings of the excruciating awareness of both mirroring and superseding her own mother. Im going to change the subject here. SHIRES: Thats all you have to say? Are they just going to sit around and drink beer? ", In the bruising roots rocker "Eve's Daughter," propelled by a tense groove and serrated, scraggy guitar riffs, Shires plays the part of a woman so desperate to expand her horizons and satisfy her hunger that she's unafraid to take risks in the name of escape. Tommy Duncan was the singer. Just admit Im what you want. She was in her home recording studio with her fiddle and with guitarist Zach Setchfield, and they played a few songs. Shires has released seven solo albums starting in 2005, her most recent being Take It Like a Man in 2022. Isbells first show after finishing rehab was opening solo for Ryan Adams in Perth, Australia, three days after he got out (two, if you count the international dateline, the day that goes into the vortex). Where the fuck are the rest of them? GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. Jason Isbell and his wife, Amanda Shires, were walking around last weekend in Newport, Rhode Island, where they played the Newport Folk Festival. 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. 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. And my hands are two empty cups. Or is this through listening to his records that you feel like youre his disciple? Members get extended access to PBS video on demand and more. 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. Isbell said everyone attending the bands shows would also be required to wear a mask. And couple of lessons like that, he pulled out some fiddle tunes that he had been transcribing aurally from Frankie McWhorter. So did you ever visit her at work? And any policing will disproportionately affect people of color, low-income folks and other marginalized groups. So theres thinking my thinking is that my granddad married my grandmother knowing that she was pregnant with somebody elses child. And I dont know. In 2016 I was going on the road. I never wouldve thought that before, but now I know its true. Is that right? "Through a sunset, shifting gears, to the something better shining diamond clear.". And she came over and I showed her. He has since learned to tell the story of his recovery. And I had been internally bleeding for a whole lot of hours. The bastards hung me at the Salem gallows hill. SHIRES: I began writing that song when I did the record My Piece Of Land a long while back. Ive been around so many people for so long who were. I was snared by your wrist. SHIRES: Yep, yep on his songs without asking him. In a new interview, Shires who returns with her latest album Take It Like a Man in July goes deeper into her own experiences and calls on artists, especially those in Nashville, to start using the platforms theyve been given. Wade was leaked last month, Amanda Shires shared some personal news on social media. Im glad to be a listener and also glad to see folks from those generations supporting the right to choose. SHIRES: Yes. And hed play songs, and Id learn them. Dont support artists who dont support your rights. Im not joking. And I know I can take it like a man. You know, like, how does that go? I still miss the way you lean in. Maybe I was asking for a little too much. Since publishing my op-ed, Ive heard from some folks who are in their eighties. When her distinctive vibrato appears on To the Sunset, as a subtle emotive tool or punctuation in her storytelling, it feels like an electrical charge shuddering through the live wire of her voice. As they talked, Isbell was struck with a realization. At age 34, hes got the baggy eyes of a man who has spent a lot of time thinking hard late at night. Do you think you would have been able to have the surgery if abortion had already been banned in Texas? And it also made me stronger in the fact that I could feel comfortable singing about it and talking about it. It goes, (singing) I woke up this morning, and I looked out my door. GROSS: Without him asking? 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. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. 99.99%. However, you can still listen with the Spotify or Apple Music playlist at the bottom of the page. For my children, I did what I had to do. Its a great song, so I thought wed play some of it. SHIRES: I really do feel like he did a lot of work for me that I dont have to do. SHIRES: The audience really never went wild over me because it took me a minute to really learn how to improvise. And one day, we wound up in the studio, and we cut the 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. GROSS: So you ended up, like, accompanying him. When we overturn Roe, we risk going back to, Oh, now same-sex marriages cant happen. SHIRES: Sure. Thats, like, part of your identity on Twitter. (Playing fiddle). Become a member of WLIW ($5 monthly or $60 annually) and get access to WLIW Passport as our thanks for your support. Wade was leaked last month, Amanda Shires shared some personal news on social media. SHIRES: I mean, I think theyre pretty good. Also, during this time when I was leaving, I was thinking about how Mercy was you know, picked up a kazoo, and she could play a kazoo. The song is called Empty Cups.. Why didnt more people show up and speak up? What happened between now and then? And Frankie and Lanny, my teachers we were at Lannys house the first time Tommy came over, and then, I met him. To see more, visit. So its probably important to stay alive before you start questioning your liberty.. 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. And Tommy said, if you can hold down that lower third harmony and Id love to, you know, have that spot filled. But and after you did the main melody part, you get to improvise. It doesnt have to be Im Your Man. I just know that youve done that. SHIRES: Theres this song called Milk Cow Blues. Its blues, you know? Not saying something is not helping. Jason Isbell and his wife, Amanda Shires, were walking around last weekend in Newport, Rhode Island, where they played the Newport Folk Festival. SHIRES: Oh, yes, Mercy is my daughter. But a lot of times when youre growing up and taught what how to be successful and how to be to survive in the world as a woman with a career and all this stuff and probably young many young kids are taught this. Thats what I want. And after he did his time, he didnt say anything about it. Long before weathering the isolating COVID-19 pandemic, Shires had endured years of studio experiences where producers and musicians undermined her You can keep the car and the house. Some of the reason [The Problem] is only coming out now is fear on my part, and Ill admit that. Why not? SHIRES: You want to come to the play the show tomorrow night, too? And I know that he likes to help. "Maybe it was circumstance, but I saw my chance and I took it," she boasts, her tone fuzzed-out by distortion. And I was like, my granddad was in Alcatraz? 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? But whatever. And I was reading mine. And if you want a doctor, Ill examine every inch of you. Theres nothing left to fix. Well close with the opening track from Amanda Shires new album. The song is called Hawk For The Dove.. GROSS: The bail bondsmen are often their offices are often located in a very low-rent part of town. Essentially, shes just a good person. GROSS: Lets take another break here. 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. 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. 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. 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. SHIRES: No, not until a couple of years ago. Shires plays fiddle in the band. SHIRES: Oh, right, in Alcatraz. In the first half of the 20th century citizens from every walk of life gathered at the Ryman to enjoy the greatest preachers, entertainers, speakers and politicians of the day. And this is basically, like, a country supergroup. Say whatever feels better or whatever. And one day we wound up in the studio and we cut the song. When it came down to it, when I finally got it done and recorded, Amy Coney Barrett had gotten sworn in. I am your man. Im glad to hear it. Isbells grandfather and uncle were both musicians, says Tompkins on the phone from Nashville. SHIRES: (Singing) Trying not to think of names. And then I thought about Waylon [Jennings] and Kris [Kristofferson] and them of The Highwaymen, and I was like, They were kind of speaking about ageism. I said, Itd be cool if I had a band, The Highwomen. 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. And we met. And I said, yeah, I feel like theres not a lot happening there emotionally for me. We found music, and then being in the Shoals area just gave us an early look at all the places music can take you. You can say I lost my grip. Then her character takes control of the exchange in a teasing tone. Protagonist 's graceful forwardness, her most recent being take it like a Hurricane or Morrisons... Like that, he didnt say anything about it and talking about it through listening his. Barrett had gotten sworn in down in my mind, wish it was something like... Fiddle tunes that he had been internally bleeding for a little too.! 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