And it took me back to the reason I came to writing and doing music in the first place, which is expression and trying to do something for me that could make me make sense, I guess. Demographer Diana Greene Foster conducted a 10-year study tracking both people who had abortions and people who were denied abortions. So hold on to your thoughts. Thank you for your songs. Amy Salit and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Which would I rather have? See where your favorite artists and songs rank on the Rolling Stone Charts. 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. Fully renovated in 1994, the Ryman has never been more vibrant, attracting entertainers and fans from around the globe to enjoy its now legendary acoustics and rich history.Connect with the Ryman Auditorium:Like the Ryman Auditorium on FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/rymanfbCheck out the Ryman Auditorium on INSTAGRAM: ttp://bit.ly/RymanInstagram Follow the Ryman Auditorium on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/tweettherymanBEHIND THE SCENES with Amanda Shires | Backstage at the Ryman | Ryman Auditoriumhttp://www.youtube.com/user/RymanAuditorium#AmandaShires, #Ryman, #TheHighwomen, #RymanAuditorium, #BackstageattheRyman I laid hands upon the world. Recently, I had an ectopic pregnancy, she tweeted. When we left off, we were talking about when Shires was 15 and started playing fiddle with the Texas Playboys, which used to be Bob Wills band. This has been the hardest year. Im on your side. And it also made me stronger in the fact that I could feel comfortable singing about it and talking about it. Wherever you get that support whether in a relationship or friends no matter what you believe, you can believe to support somebody through something hard.. GROSS: Were you nervous about being on stage or just about singing? GROSS: One of the things I love about his music is the way he combined the spiritual and the profane in his songs and the spiritual and, like, anger and resentment and despair. I want to talk with you about The Highwomen. Im so glad you wrote it. GROSS: Lawrence Rothman produced your new album. In the decade-plus that Shires has been making solo albums in addition to working as a side person with Billy Joe Shaver, Justin Townes Earle and, eventually, her husband and fellow singer-songwriter Jason Isbell she's expressed self-consciousness about the shivers and tremors in her singing voice, tried to smooth them out of her delivery and ultimately embraced its untameness. Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires perform at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. That last talk left me a makeup rainbow of tears, turned everything blurry. It took Dave Cobb and it took Brandi and then it took Natalie [Hemby] and Maren Morris. And thats when the fertilized egg stays in the fallopian tube. I dont care if somebody wants to put a target on me. And Id sit on his porch. Home to the Grand Ole Opry from 1943-1974, the Ryman earned the moniker \"Mother Church of Country Music\" as the genres of country and bluegrass developed on its stage and found a national audience on radio and television. And tell us how. Life cant help but interfere. Maybe I was asking for a little too much. Lets start with a track from the new album. So by the time I went into the hospital, my fallopian tube had already ruptured. And he married my grandmother. We both know that none of that was keeping, keeping me anyhow. And I think theres more valuable strength there than there is in suppressing your emotions and poisoning yourself with your own feelings, I guess. You can just say Im crazy. Its not more threatening than the idea of taking away the services and the work that doctors and nurses do. SHIRES: Yeah. 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. 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. I was gifted as a girl. But whatever. But I did move a couple of times out of the house, not because it was a leaving thing, but because I didnt want to do anything that would harm, you know, make it worse. On August 9, 2021 I was snared by your wrist. Singer, songwriter and fiddle player Amanda Shires still remembers the moment she fell in love with the fiddle. GROSS: I think its so interesting that your mother worked as a bail bondsman, not knowing that her own father had spent so much time in prison. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time It felt like maybe wed both leave at the same time. Amanda Shires and Jason Isbell depict a couple having an honest, difficult conversation about abortion in the new song The Problem. The tracks release coincides with International Safe Abortion Day and proceeds from its sales will go to the Yellowhammer Fund, a reproductive justice organization based in Alabama. This is FRESH AIR. Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble. I am your man. 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. Its a lot like writing a song about it. You dont see a lot of men speaking up, and every voice is helpful. 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. Ive found and scrounged and continue to for every interview that hes done in any form, in any language. The spurs of hip bones Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. And I followed a dress code. Theres so much attached to folks thinking women treat it as a kind of birth control. I didnt start learning how to accept my voice until recently. 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. I cant see a thing from here. I heard witchcraft in the whispers and I knew my time had come. Amanda Shires has become a coveted presence at the intersection of nervy artistry and activism, folk and country acclaim, rock attitude and Nashville influence. And I told my mom to come over because I had something to show her. My family left Honduras when they killed the Sandinistas. Is that right? When do you show him the songs? (In "Wasn't I Paying Attention," a tale of dramatically staged, small-town suicide, for example, the way she sings the word "attention" amplifies the narrator's unsettled state.) 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. 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. In my case, I blame the education system, but I didnt even know what an ectopic pregnancy was. Are they just going to sit around and drink beer? I am Terry Gross. Click the audio link above to get the full experience, On channeling her feelings about her marriage into writing Fault Lines and showing it to Isbell, I went and I sat down in my barn of internal wandering, and this is after some kind of nebulous argument, and I wrote Fault Lines and then I texted it to him, just like youd imagine, I said, I just wrote this song. 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? 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. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. A lark in the shower from the night to the morning after. Got myself a breakthrough case of Covid, the Alabama-born artist tweeted Tuesday. Then I get to the end of the recording process and try to decide what makes the best collection of songs. Shires, an incisive songwriter and solo artist and occasional member of husband Jason Isbells 400 Unit band, has been vocal about protecting a womans right to choose in the past. Sign up for Rolling Stones Newsletter. The former Drive-By Truckers newfound sobriety, a recurring topic of discussion (and of his exceptional songwriting), may have cost him some of his sense of adventure, but it has undoubtedly focused his attention on his craft. 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. 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. All the time, the want, the overwhelming volume of breathing. 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. And after we recorded it, he said, Thats a really good song. And I said, Thats all you have to say. Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires say they've turned in their memberships with the Country Music Association, due to the organization's "failure" to acknowledge the So she did daytime job. I was lucky. (SOUNDBITE OF AMANDA SHIRES SONG, SWIMMER), GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. Recognition has been building steadily; he won Song of the Year at the 2012 Americana Honors and Awards at the Ryman Auditorium last September for Alabama Pines. He calls his superb backing band the 400 Unit, after the psychiatric ward of a hospital near Muscle Shoals, the part of the state where he grew up. And she also plays in her husband, Jason Isbells, band. And I really liked it. They all feel good, he says of making records, and they all feel really bad when youre working, simultaneously.. All Rights reserved. Isbell said he had to cancel his Asheville shows scheduled for Jan. 11-12, but he and his team are working to reschedule shows in Louisville, Columbus, Wilkes-Barre and Wilmington. I wouldnt go back and change it. Essentially, shes just a good person. Isbell took a stand, even facing backlash from his fellow artists. Recently, I had an ectopic pregnancy, she tweeted. FRESH AIRs executive producer is Danny Miller. 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