Amanda Shires

Biography

Amanda Rose Shires (born March 5, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and fiddle player. Shires has released nine solo albums starting in 2005, her most recent being Nobody's Girl×Nobody's Girl26 September 2025 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Intro1:172A Way It Goes4:443Maybe I4:214The Details4:285Living3:296Lose It for a While5:097Piece of Mind3:538Streetlights and Stars3:539Lately3:1510Friend Zone4:1711Strange Dreams4:0012Can’t Hold Your Breath4:4613Not Feeling Anything3:28 in 2025. In 2019, she founded a country music supergroup called The Highwomen alongside Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby and has also 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. Along with Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Shires won the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album for their 2017 album The Nashville Sound.

Early life

Following her parents' divorce, Shires' childhood was divided between the Texas cities of Lubbock and Mineral Wells. Her mother is a retired nurse. She also used to be a barrel racer at rodeos. Her father owns a wholesale nursery in Mineral Wells and has a hobby of gold prospecting in Alaska. She is distantly related to noted photographer Erica Shires, who produced the video for the song "Swimmer".
At the age of 10, she happened to be with her father while he was shopping for hunting gear at a pawn shop in Mineral Wells. She saw an inexpensive fiddle for sale and her father agreed to buy it for her on the condition that she learn to play it. It took a while for her to play it well; she usually practiced outside because her dog had a habit of howling while she played. When she was 12, she started taking fiddle lessons in Lubbock from Lanny Fiel, who knew Frankie McWhorter from the Texas Playboys. She then started learning fiddle from McWhorter and was later invited to play at the band's shows. At the age of 15, she joined the Texas Playboys, the former backing band for Western swing legend Bob Wills.

Musical career

Shires continued to pursue full time work as a touring side musician in the early 2000s, gaining experience backing veterans of the Texas outlaw country circuit. She played fiddle on tour with Billy Joe Shaver and later Todd Snider, both highly respected singer-songwriters. Shaver encouraged Shires to record her fiddle playing and singing in order to provide a CD sample for sale.
In 2005 Shires released a public demo album, the mostly instrumental Being Brave×Being Brave2005 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Uncle Herm's Hornpipe/Twinkle Little Star2:202There's Words2:173Ragtime Annie3:494Cattle in the Cane1:545Low and Lonely3:036Garfield's Reel1:497Lone Star Rag2:188Where's My Heart4:469Cotton Patch Rag4:3710Little Rock Getaway3:1111Keep it Close2:5712Road to Lisdoonvarna2:2613Hearts are Breakin'4:0614La Golondrina4:41. She described the album as a type of résumé offered to show attendees: "When we toured it was expected that the fiddle players would have their own stuff to sell; which is why I recorded Being Brave, which isn’t really a ‘debut’ album, but more of a showcase for my playing and occasional singing."
Encouraged by positive support from the songwriting veterans she was playing fiddle for on Texas tours, Shires moved to Nashville to pursue a solo career in 2008. The next year, she released West Cross Timbers as her debut album as a solo singer-songwriter.
Shires had toured had extensively with Rod Picott from 2006. In 2009 she and Picott released the collaborative album Sew Your Heart with Wires×Sew Your Heart With Wires27 January 2009 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Mercury4:002Drive That Devil Out2:593Yiou Can't Call Me Baby2:504Shake and Cry3:335Salida3:356Little Darlin'2:417Arrows on Your Compass2:598Mean Little Girl [Ruby]3:589When You Get Your Story Told3:2610Bird and Pony3:03. Since that time, Shires has also performed and recorded with Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Devotchka, Chris Isaak, Thrift Store Cowboys, Blackberry Smoke, and Justin Townes Earle.
In 2011, she appeared in the movie Country Strong as one of the musicians backing singer Kelly Canter, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. During 2011, Shires began attending Sewanee: The University of the South, a small liberal arts university in Sewanee, Tennessee. She graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry in 2017.
During a break from classes at Sewanee, in July 2011 following the release of her third album Carrying Lightning×Carrying Lightning3 May 2011 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Swimmer...3:082Ghost Bird3:473When You Need a Train It Never Comes4:144She Let Go of Her Kite3:485Love Be a Bird4:106Shake the Walls3:207Detroit or Buffalo4:088Sloe Gin4:259Kudzu2:5610Bees in the Shed4:0611Lovesick I Remain3:1512Swimmer, Dreams Don't Keep (instrumental)2:01, Shires suffered a severe injury to her left ring finger while using a rope swing jumping into Saint Andrews Lake near the campus. The injury caused loss of feeling and muscle strength that nearly ended Shires’ fiddle playing career. Saying she drew inspiration from Billy Joe Shaver, who was missing two fingers, Shires eventually relearned her violin fingering through two years of rehabilitation.
On the strength of Carrying Lightning, Shires was named Artist of the Year 2011 by Texas Music magazine, appearing on the publication's Winter 2012 cover. Down Fell the Doves followed Carrying Lightning in August 2013, and My Piece of Land was released in September 2016. The latter proved to be Shires' breakthrough, gaining her a nomination from the Americana Music Association.
Shires won the Emerging Artist of the Year Award at the 2017 Americana Music Honors & Awards. That year, she supported John Prine on his worldwide tour alongside Isbell for select dates. Shires announced that she was working on a new album, To The Sunset×To the Sunset3 August 2018 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Parking Lot Pirouette3:332Swimmer2:553Leave It Alone3:424Charms2:335Eve’s Daughter3:106Break Out the Champagne2:457Take on the Dark3:028White Feather3:359Mirror, Mirror2:4810Wasn’t I Paying Attention?4:23, which was due for release in August 2018 and which, like My Piece of Land, would be produced by Dave Cobb. Isbell revealed on Twitter that Gillian Welch and David Rawlings will make a guest appearance. As a member of the 400 Unit, Shires won the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album for The Nashville Sound. Shires contributed to The Tree of Forgiveness, the 2018 album by John Prine. To The Sunset was released on August 3, 2018.
After researching the lack of airplay women artists received on American country radio stations, which an academic paper found had dropped to less than twenty percent of songs played by 2018, Shires formed the country supergroup The Highwomen, along with Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, and Maren Morris. "Redesigning Women" was the first single from their self-titled debut album released on September 6, 2019. Following her 2021 holiday album For Christmas×For Christmas12 November 2021 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Magic Ooooooh4:132A Real Tree This Year3:163Let’s Get Away3:214Home to Me3:405Blame It on the Mistletoe3:186Slow Falling Snow3:397What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?2:288Silent Night4:139Gone for Christmas3:5210Wish for You3:2911Always Christmas Around Here3:13, Shires released her eighth solo album Take It Like a Man×Take It Like a Man29 July 2022 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Hawk for the Dove3:472Take It Like a Man4:313Empty Cups3:594Don’t Be Alarmed3:515Fault Lines2:566Here He Comes3:297Bad Behavior3:378Stupid Love3:179Lonely at Night4:1210Everything Has Its Time3:33 on July 26, 2022.
Shires announced her ninth album, Nobody's Girl×Nobody's Girl26 September 2025 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Intro1:172A Way It Goes4:443Maybe I4:214The Details4:285Living3:296Lose It for a While5:097Piece of Mind3:538Streetlights and Stars3:539Lately3:1510Friend Zone4:1711Strange Dreams4:0012Can’t Hold Your Breath4:4613Not Feeling Anything3:28 on July 18, 2025 alongside the release of its lead single "A Way It Goes". It was recorded at Sound Emporium Studios, produced by Lawrence Rothman, and released on September 26, 2025.
In the summer of 2026, Shires opened the Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: Farewell Tour show at Tanglewood. Appearing along with Shires to sing for Judy Collins during her farewell performance at the venue were Madeleine Peyroux, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Rosanne Cash.

Musical style

David Menconi of the magazine Spin said that Shires "sings [...] like an earthbound Emmylou Harris", and her vocals have been likened to those of Dolly Parton. Reviewers have variously described a "catch" or "quaver", musically called vibrato, in Shire's voice that allows her to express vulnerability or apprehension, or as Jewly Hight writing for NPR explained, acts "as a subtle emotive tool or punctuation in her storytelling, (which) feels like an electrical charge shuddering through the live wire of her voice". The imagery in her songwriting has been compared to that of Tom Waits. Although her principal instrument is the fiddle, she also plays the ukulele.

Personal life

Shires began dating fellow musician Jason Isbell in 2011. The couple married on February 23, 2013 and had their first child on September 1, 2015. She was previously in a relationship with singer Rod Picott. In December 2023, Isbell filed for divorce from Shires. Their divorce was finalized in March 2025.

As singer-songwriter

West Cross Timbers (2009)
Carrying Lightning (2011)
Down Fell the Doves (2013)
My Piece of Land (2016)
To the Sunset (2018)
For Christmas (2021)
Take It Like a Man (2022)
Nobody's Girl (2025)

With Jason Isbell

Here We Rest (2011)
Southeastern (2013)
Something More Than Free (2015)
Sea Songs (2015 single)
"If I Needed You" – on Gentle Giants: The Songs of Don Williams (2017)
The Nashville Sound (2017)
Reunions (2020)
Georgia Blue (2021)
Weathervanes (2023)

Other appearances

City Boys (2004) – Andy Hedges
Sweeten the Distance (2011) – Neal Casal
Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now – Justin Townes Earle
Light Fighter – Thrift Store Cowboys
Welding Burns – Rod Picott
Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables – Todd Snider
Oh Be Joyful – Shovels & Rope
Mutt – Cory Branan
Burn. Flicker. Die. – American Aquarium
I Can't Love You Any Less – High Cotton: Tribute to Alabama (2013)
For Better, or Worse – John Prine (2016)
Adios – Cory Branan (2017)
Accomplice One – Tommy Emmanuel (2018)
The Tree of Forgiveness – John Prine (2018)
Find a Light – Blackberry Smoke (2018)
Southern Ground Sessions – Blackberry Smoke – (2018)
What You See Ain't Always What You Get – Luke Combs (fiddle on "Without You")
Where the Light Goes – Matchbox Twenty (2023)