Description of Amanda Shires' Music:

Singer-songwriter, contemporary folk, Americana

Comparisons:

Amanda Shires writes songs so rich in imagery and poetic lyricism, her work could easily be considered a torch-bearer for folks like Leonard Cohen and Iris DeMent (she dedicates a song on Down Fell the Doves to a fantasy about the former). Fans of fellow literary-minded Generation Y singer-songwriters like Anais Mitchell, Samantha Crain, and Shires' husband Jason Isbell would be interested in Amanda Shires' approach to narrative songwriting.


As she's also contributed her fiddle and vocals to the background of Justin Townes Earle's band and has toured extensively with Todd Snider and Rod Picott, fans of Shires' work would be well-advised to check out those men's work, and vice-versa.

Recommended Albums by Amanda Shires:

Down Fell the Doves (Lightning Rod Records, 2013) purchase/download

Carrying Lightning (Self, 2011)

West Cross Timbers (Self, 2009)

Purchase/Download Amanda Shires MP3s:

"A Song for Leonard Cohen" (from Down Fell the Doves)
"When You Need a Train It Never Comes" (from Carrying Lightning)
"I Kept Watch Like Doves (Murder Ballad)" (from West Cross Timbers)

Amanda Shires Biography:

Amanda Shires was born in March, 1982, in Lubbock, Tex. She grew up there, in the hometown of Buddy Holly, though she divided her time between Lubbock and Mineral Wells, Tex., following her parents' divorce. When she was 10, she started playing the fiddle on an old lime green instrument she picked up at a pawn shop in Mineral Wells. She took to the instrument so well, it was only a few years later, at the age of 15, that she was recruited to join the storied Texas Playboys as their fiddler.

It was a big break for such a young girl, playing in the legendary band that had originally formed to back Texas music legend Bob Wills.

Before she was so much as out of her teen years, Shires helped form Lubbock-based alt-country band the Thrift Store Cowboys. Together, that troupe released four albums and earned the praise of countless indie publications and Americana blogs around the country. Then, in 2005, Shires decided to strike out on her own with an aptly titled debut solo album which did more than test the waters. Being Brave earned her raised eyebrows across the indie spectrum and encouraged her to move to Nashville to pursue a solo career.

Once in Nashville, Shires became an in-demand session fiddler and was even hired to play a fiddler in the major motion picture Country Strong starring Gwyneth Paltrow. It wasn't until 2009 that she finally released a sophomore effort - West Cross Timbers - which garnered the attention of No Depression and other publications. The Gibson Guitar Company named her a breakout artist of the year in 2009.

She joined forces with guitarist and songwriter Rod Picott for a duo album titled Sew Your Heart with Wires, and the pair spun off on an extensive tour, backing up each other's work and singing their own collaborations.

In addition to working closely with Picott and touring at length with Earle, Amanda Shires has leant her remarkable talent to the work of Todd Snider and her husband Jason Isbell's band the 400 Unit. She and Isbell began dating in 2011 and married in early 2013. Throughout their courtship, they challenged each other to songwriting contests and both garnered enough material from the challenge to put together what have been two of the finest albums of 2013 thus far.

Shires has released four solo albums, plus one duo album with Picott. She's contributed fiddle to the recordings of artists as variant as Shovels and Rope, Billy Joe Shaver, and Neal Casal, among many others. She is a tireless road warrior who has appeared at all the major American music festivals, from South by Southwest and the Americana Music Association Festival and Conference, to Bonnaroo, Newport Folk Festival, and beyond. Keep an eye on her tour schedule at her website AmandaShiresMusic.com.