Speaker 1: Pushkin. Amanda Shires is a Texas born singer songwriter who
Speaker 1: got her start at age fifteen when she joined the
Speaker 1: legendary Bob Wills group The Texas Playboys on fiddle. After
Speaker 1: starting her solo career in two thousand and five, Shires
Speaker 1: continued to play with a number of other groups, including
Speaker 1: the four hundred Unit, which is fronted by her husband,
Speaker 1: Jason Isbel. In twenty nineteen, she started the all female
Speaker 1: country supergroup The High Women, which includes Brandy Carlyle, Natalie Hemby,
Speaker 1: and Maren Morris. After the twenty twenty two release of
Speaker 1: Amanda Shire's seventh solo album, Take It Like a Man,
Speaker 1: she released an album of covers with the late and
Speaker 1: reclusive Bobby Nelson, who's primarily known for playing piano and
Speaker 1: her younger brother, Willie Nelson's family band for decades. Amanda
Speaker 1: initially elicted Bobby to play on her vert of Willie's
Speaker 1: classic You Are Always On My Mind, but they continued
Speaker 1: to record together. The resulting collection of songs became the
Speaker 1: album Loving You, which was released this past June, nearly
Speaker 1: a year after Bobby's death. On today's episode, I talked
Speaker 1: to Amanda Shiers about Bobby Nelson's unfortunate start in the
Speaker 1: music business. Amanda also talks about why she feels more
Speaker 1: comfortable singing about societies big issues alongside her group The
Speaker 1: High Women, and she remembers the time she went to
Speaker 1: Vegas and gambled away all of her band's tour money,
Speaker 1: only to win it all back after playing craps through
Speaker 1: the night. This is broken record line of notes for
Speaker 1: the digital age. I'm justin Mitchman. Here's my interview with
Speaker 1: Amanda shires Man.
Speaker 2: Great to talk to you, Oh, great to talk to you.
Speaker 1: There's a lot to talk about, but I feel like
Speaker 1: I want to start with your record with Bobby. That's
Speaker 1: a pretty special thing.
Speaker 2: I really liked that record. We had a great time
Speaker 2: recording it, and it was a nice return to the
Speaker 2: songs that I played growing up.
Speaker 1: I guess for people who don't know, Bobby Nelson is
Speaker 1: Willy Nelson's sister and longtime piano player with Willy, although
Speaker 1: she played even before she joined Willie in like the
Speaker 1: early seventies, I guess the family band. But she was
Speaker 1: a pretty quiet person, as I'm led to believe, and
Speaker 1: she didn't seem to collaborate with a ton of people.
Speaker 1: I'm curious how you were able to get a record
Speaker 1: going with her.
Speaker 2: Well, i'd seen her play, you know, growing up all
Speaker 2: the time with Willie. But I think she started out
Speaker 2: when she was playing music, playing revival tints and churches
Speaker 2: and all that, and then started playing with Willie and
Speaker 2: one of her exes in a band that sold alcohol
Speaker 2: and quickly got her kids taken away from her. So
Speaker 2: that put a stop to all of that. And in
Speaker 2: the time when she you know, was coming up and
Speaker 2: growing up, she was powerless as what she was and
Speaker 2: had to figure out a new way to keep music
Speaker 2: in her life and get her kids back and eventually
Speaker 2: rejoin Willie. But I guess our collaboration started because I
Speaker 2: was considering putting you were always on my mind on
Speaker 2: my record take it like a man, and I went
Speaker 2: down there and we recorded it, and then she decided
Speaker 2: and I agreed that we were going to make a
Speaker 2: record together.
Speaker 1: So you wanted her to be on that song for
Speaker 1: your TAKEO Commander, Oh right.
Speaker 2: Yes, I'd played it in the studio with my piano player, Peter,
Speaker 2: and it was beautiful. But I just had a feeling
Speaker 2: that the way to do it right and to do
Speaker 2: it any justice at all would be to have Bobby
Speaker 2: on it. And I called and she said yes, and
Speaker 2: I sent her a bunch of orchids, and when we
Speaker 2: got to the studio we recorded it and just started
Speaker 2: talking about songs and life and we decided that I
Speaker 2: was going to come back and we were going to
Speaker 2: make a record. In this first song we would do
Speaker 2: would be Summer.
Speaker 1: What's it like hanging out with Bobby inspiring.
Speaker 2: In the way that she had like she had knowledge
Speaker 2: of every song ever, like Cold you could not stump her.
Speaker 2: And then just the way she carried herself with love
Speaker 2: and forgiveness, the way that she just was able to
Speaker 2: forgive and lead with love. And then also at the
Speaker 2: same time she was very centering, she was very she
Speaker 2: was very sure of herself with the piano, and also
Speaker 2: very much about the point of music being to be
Speaker 2: connection with people or with whatever God you believe in,
Speaker 2: and you know, with the heart and with your with
Speaker 2: your friends. She's really, really awesome.
Speaker 1: I don't have any tattoos, but I often feel like
Speaker 1: if I had tattoos, I would have a Ray Charles
Speaker 1: and Willie Nelson tattoo, because I feel like that kind
Speaker 1: of encompasses all of you know, American music and all
Speaker 1: the music.
Speaker 2: I mean, Ray Charles is record is I still stand
Speaker 2: by it the best country record ever recorded.
Speaker 1: He says, the best country record.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I ever recorded modern songs at country music that
Speaker 2: and along with the time that it came out and
Speaker 2: just you know, there's a lot that goes with that record.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, Wow, that's surprising you hear you say
Speaker 1: it's the best in your in your views?
Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely what makes you.
Speaker 1: So good to you? Like as a country record.
Speaker 2: He can play the shit out of it and it
Speaker 2: inspired and even the sequencing is great. The players are great.
Speaker 2: It's inspiring to the story of it, you know, him
Speaker 2: getting his rights to his music and all that kind
Speaker 2: of stuff at that time. The I don't know, it's
Speaker 2: just fearless to me, fearless, you know, I mean we
Speaker 2: will all have fears, so to me, it feels fearless
Speaker 2: in the way that it was made. And then there's
Speaker 2: some incredible you know, solos and feels and stuff that
Speaker 2: are just like, what how did you come up with that?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, yeah knows country music. It's so good, Like,
Speaker 2: how could you not that record? The best country record?
Speaker 2: I don't care. Wow, stand by it.
Speaker 1: I gotta go, I gotta revisit it. I haven't listened
Speaker 1: to it.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, damn. And to do that and being black,
Speaker 2: you know, can you believe it? Like during the sixties
Speaker 2: and you know, I don't know, just everything about it
Speaker 2: is like there's there's a hero right there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I understand. My first concert was a knockoff
Speaker 1: like Boys to Men kind of group, but.
Speaker 2: It wasn't new edition.
Speaker 1: It wasn't new edition, No new aeddition was dope.
Speaker 2: It was my first was Black Street new Edition.
Speaker 1: Black Yep, that's a great show. That's a great show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker 1: Remember all for one that had that song I se
Speaker 1: I do that was That was my first concert. But
Speaker 1: my second was a Garth Brooks concert. So oh wow,
Speaker 1: being black in a country environments.
Speaker 2: Get it, Yeah, exactly, I get it.
Speaker 1: But that was pretty that's pretty mind altering, I'll say.
Speaker 1: But like you know, to my point, like Ray Charles,
Speaker 1: Willie Nelson like great players. But you know, when you
Speaker 1: really dig into Willy's music, like it's not just Willy,
Speaker 1: although it's Willy as much that he brings the table,
Speaker 1: but it really by the time it really, in my view,
Speaker 1: kind of finds his stride in terms of recordings and
Speaker 1: all that. You know, it's with Bobby and the band,
Speaker 1: and she really has a beautiful way of accompanying Willie.
Speaker 1: Was it difficult to get her to consider kind of
Speaker 1: slapping her name on a record, Like, it's not like
Speaker 1: as if she's accompanying you on this, it's like you
Speaker 1: and her together releasing something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, that was that was really easy. And
Speaker 2: it came along organically, like just sitting around playing together.
Speaker 2: I think too it we'd played together some in the past.
Speaker 2: I was introduced to her first by Mickey Raphael, the
Speaker 2: harmonica player, and at that point they had me on
Speaker 2: stage to join them in the band at a show,
Speaker 2: and they're gonna have me up for one, and they
Speaker 2: wound up keeping me up for like, I don't know,
Speaker 2: a whole lot of songs. And then I'd always go
Speaker 2: sit in with them. But after that show, we started
Speaker 2: talking about how much we liked each other's choice of
Speaker 2: clothing that night, and then the solos, and you know,
Speaker 2: we kept on talking to each other when we see
Speaker 2: each other. And then when I saw her, she said,
Speaker 2: we're gonna make a we're going to go on tour
Speaker 2: so we could go shopping and play music. And I said, yeah,
Speaker 2: we are, but we're going to need a record. She said,
Speaker 2: we're going to need a band, and I said, we
Speaker 2: could just be the two of us. And so our
Speaker 2: plan was to go around and spend a few days
Speaker 2: in a town, play a show, and buy some killer shoes.
Speaker 2: What year was this that we recorded?
Speaker 1: But no, no, no, that that you guys had that
Speaker 1: conversation about that.
Speaker 2: This stuff with the clothes and stuff that happened a
Speaker 2: long time ago. But the part where we actually were
Speaker 2: going to make a record that happened after we recorded
Speaker 2: always on my mind.
Speaker 1: Wow, do you remember what you guys were wearing when
Speaker 1: you first met that? You guys are dr.
Speaker 2: Had to toe black? And I think you know, she
Speaker 2: she wasn't a person that drew a lot of attention
Speaker 2: to herself, And I think that that was she started
Speaker 2: playing so young, and then she got her kids taken
Speaker 2: away so young, and then when that happened, she went
Speaker 2: to school, got a degree, started working, then was demoing
Speaker 2: pianos and working to get her kids back in a
Speaker 2: time when you really couldn't do it so low and
Speaker 2: then she did it, and then that's why she rejoined after,
Speaker 2: you know, Willie, after they were good and grown and everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Yeah, She's such an incredible character man, in person.
Speaker 2: I can't imagine, like if that had happened to me
Speaker 2: and then I got my kids back, sure, shit, I'll
Speaker 2: sit in the back. I don't want anybody to notice,
Speaker 2: but I'm gonna play.
Speaker 1: Right because she got her kids taken away because she
Speaker 1: was playing in environments that was apparently double right for.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they called her all kinds of name, like
Speaker 2: a whore, and her reputation was solely just for like
Speaker 2: she wouldn't even drink at the places, and she you know,
Speaker 2: the churches would barely have her back, damn. Yeah. And
Speaker 2: she was by her grandparents to her and Willie were
Speaker 2: and when her granddad passed away, they threatened to take
Speaker 2: the kids away from the grandmother, saying that they didn't
Speaker 2: think she could provide and didn't even give them a chance,
Speaker 2: you know, but she managed to keep them. And but yeah,
Speaker 2: it's just I just can't imagine.
Speaker 1: So that that is that's sort of the mythology around her,
Speaker 1: is that she was just kind of to herself, you know,
Speaker 1: like in terms of she didn't really want Yeah, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't do interviews. Didn't want to.
Speaker 2: I don't blame her, I mean you don't want to,
Speaker 2: you know, stay out of trouble.
Speaker 1: Yeah. That's a fascinating but also kind of a sad story,
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I didn't consider.
Speaker 2: But like, like I said, she she led with forgiveness,
Speaker 2: and I was like, how do you get through all
Speaker 2: this trauma and then, you know, get your kids back
Speaker 2: and they're grown and healthy and everything, and then suddenly
Speaker 2: two of them, not suddenly, but then two of them
Speaker 2: die within six months of each other, and then the
Speaker 2: world is a vampire. And she said, the easiest thing
Speaker 2: to do, which is sometimes hardest, to forgive.
Speaker 1: I don't know where she gets a grace, but the
Speaker 1: Nelson family in general seems to have that level of
Speaker 1: grace and ease about life.
Speaker 2: I mean they are fashion forward with a lot, not
Speaker 2: fashion forward, you know, with weed and all kinds of things,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there were ahead of the times spiritually
Speaker 1: and culturally.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: You came up in the same town as does the
Speaker 1: right No, the same state, same state.
Speaker 2: It sounds a lot alike there there grew up in Abbott,
Speaker 2: which is more hill country esque.
Speaker 1: I guess, got it, but but love it? What I mean?
Speaker 1: What doesn't isn't that where Willie's place is? Now?
Speaker 2: No, there's a place in Luke and Bac and one
Speaker 2: in the Florist Country store. I guess it's purdin Alis area. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but Luke and bach Is is a different place than Lon,
Speaker 2: like I think they're probably six hours apart.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm messing up my Texas geography.
Speaker 2: It's okay, it's a big state. It really should be four.
Speaker 2: But no, I grew up playing Texas playboys when I
Speaker 2: wasn't you know. I thought when I first heard West
Speaker 2: Side Connection they were playing fiddles, but it turns out
Speaker 2: it was a synthesizer. So part of my life was
Speaker 2: a hoax me trying to learn from.
Speaker 1: Was that, Like, so, we're you a Westside Connection fan?
Speaker 1: Were you listening to rap?
Speaker 2: I listened to all of it? Yeah. I have clippings
Speaker 2: from when Tupac died out of the Lubbic newspaper. I
Speaker 2: watched MTV jams countdown every day. I wrote fan letters
Speaker 2: to Tyrese. I have response letters, but I have yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: it was like hy two K in the neighborhood, like
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety nine, and he signed it stuff about Y
Speaker 2: two K and all this, But no, I was like,
Speaker 2: I listened to all the music and I learned all
Speaker 2: the music, and yeah, everything from gang Star to what
Speaker 2: Are You Guthrie?
Speaker 1: Wow? What was pox? One of my favorite?
Speaker 2: Did you see how they arrested somebody in Vegas in
Speaker 2: connection with them? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I'm too deep into that rabbit whole song. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you need to find some shit out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I think I think it seems like they're
Speaker 1: close to figuring that out finally, which is a beautiful
Speaker 1: thing because that was one of the most crushing things.
Speaker 2: Part of me. You still hoped he was like living
Speaker 2: in an island somewhere.
Speaker 1: I always I always have that as well. He was
Speaker 1: so larger than life, you know it really, Yeah, and
Speaker 1: unbelievable at twenty six, spent a year in prison. So
Speaker 1: in twenty five years, six five put out six albums
Speaker 1: plus all the other stuff that was recorded, plus like
Speaker 1: five movies plus Yeah, just all the stuff. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just insane, insane work ethic what So I'm imagining
Speaker 1: you're joking though that you thought it was fiddle on
Speaker 1: West Side Connection.
Speaker 2: Yeah, on that song bound Down, that part goes bear
Speaker 2: Bear Bear Bear Bar. I was very young. How was
Speaker 2: I supposed to know about synthesizers?
Speaker 1: You thought that was?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, I did, and I learned it. I was like,
Speaker 2: I had this dream I was gonna join. My dream
Speaker 2: one day was to play a violin with method Man.
Speaker 2: And while I did get to meet him in the
Speaker 2: Wu Tang, I didn't ever get to play with him,
Speaker 2: but he did let me dance on stage.
Speaker 1: Did you tell him.
Speaker 2: I did it? I got. I'm usually good at over sharing,
Speaker 2: but that time I was like, good job, Sharrees didn't overshare?
Speaker 1: Is that really? Do you really talk to yourself that way?
Speaker 2: Like, I mean, you know, so when I do a
Speaker 2: good job, I mean, we all talk to ourselves and
Speaker 2: our brains and most of it's a beat down. But
Speaker 2: at that time, I was like, good job, not oversharing.
Speaker 1: I feel like, I don't know. I definitely talk to myself.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely a self talker to psych myself up. But
Speaker 1: I just assumed from your music that you were pretty
Speaker 1: sure of your movements through the world.
Speaker 2: Oh no, God, no, no.
Speaker 1: What does the confidence in your music come.
Speaker 2: From Oh that's only happened of late. And that's because
Speaker 2: I feel like for me, I feel like I've always
Speaker 2: felt like I've had to have some sort of like
Speaker 2: uh certificate or or something to say that I'm allowed
Speaker 2: to do the things that I do or call myself
Speaker 2: a thing. Like I didn't really feel like I was
Speaker 2: much of a writer at all until I got my
Speaker 2: degree at Swanee. Although I was writing, and I mean
Speaker 2: not the worst at it. But I don't know. I
Speaker 2: guess maybe we all have imposter syndrome. I don't know
Speaker 2: if that everybody seems to say they have it. I
Speaker 2: know I do.
Speaker 1: I definitely have it, but I'm also like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not There's so much opportunity as a musician for
Speaker 1: failure and embarrassment, and so many opportunities to be exposed
Speaker 1: as a as a fraud as it were, you know.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's like so it's like, that's a pretty
Speaker 1: wild decision you've made to I mean, I don't know,
Speaker 1: how do you how do you handle that? Because it's
Speaker 1: like to have I hide from most opportunities for embarrassment,
Speaker 1: and I'm able to do that in my chosen you know,
Speaker 1: path or less.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know I can play, and I know
Speaker 2: I can write, but I don't know why it exists.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know why it exists. I guess
Speaker 2: because some things are just maybe to me, it feels
Speaker 2: like the purpose of life, I guess is growing and learning.
Speaker 2: It feels like you can't master anything in the world.
Speaker 2: So how could you be a thing if you can't
Speaker 2: master a thing? Like we'll never truly master a violin,
Speaker 2: will never truly master the words on the page. I mean,
Speaker 2: they're always moving and living and shifting. And I mean, actually,
Speaker 2: now that we're talking about it, I'm going to think
Speaker 2: about it more because it doesn't really make you an
Speaker 2: imposter so much as it makes you, like you said,
Speaker 2: afraid to fail. But I guess that's a beautiful thing to.
Speaker 1: Your point of like words are, you can never master
Speaker 1: a language because language is a living, breathing thing that's
Speaker 1: always changing, evolving, adapting.
Speaker 2: Nobody will give a shit if you do it in Latin, right, right, right?
Speaker 2: The two Latin scholars alive might But.
Speaker 1: It's like music's saying. I mean, like you know, like
Speaker 1: like fiddle violin music, and the instrument's the same. It's
Speaker 1: like you're always in conversation with the current sort of
Speaker 1: time in place and leaving it up to the next
Speaker 1: sort of group of people to move it forward or
Speaker 1: backwards or just laterally or wherever, you know, in some
Speaker 1: sort of way. It's like music, for sure, is always
Speaker 1: evolving and changing, and that's what keeps it hopefully interesting
Speaker 1: for years to come.
Speaker 2: It does, and then you learn a lot about how
Speaker 2: it changes depending on the folks you get in the
Speaker 2: room to play with you, and that can be really fun.
Speaker 1: We're gonna pause for a quick break and then come
Speaker 1: back with more from an interview with Amanda Shires. We're
Speaker 1: back with more from Amanda Shires. Who are some of
Speaker 1: your favorite people to play with?
Speaker 2: I really like to playing with Bobby, but my favorite
Speaker 2: people to play with. I love playing with my piano player,
Speaker 2: Peter Levin. He's great. I'm at him and the Greg
Speaker 2: Almond band when I was opening for them, and he's fantastic.
Speaker 2: And I love playing with all the four hundred Unit members.
Speaker 2: They're fantastic. Yeah, Jason's band, they're good, good guys too.
Speaker 2: I recently played with the Asleep at the Wheel band,
Speaker 2: Ray Benson and them. They were fantastic. I mean it's
Speaker 2: rare to get on stage and play with anybody that
Speaker 2: that's no good or no fun because I don't really
Speaker 2: operate in that world much that no fun world?
Speaker 1: Are there some times you have?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Sometimes you get into situations with in studios,
Speaker 2: like when I first moved to town, where I worked
Speaker 2: with some people that I like. Now, in hindsight, know
Speaker 2: that the reason that wasn't fun was because of the
Speaker 2: people in the room. But and then you get some
Speaker 2: folks that operate in the top forty world that have
Speaker 2: very interesting facial hair and haircut, and you're like, you know,
Speaker 2: they're like little napoleons running around everywhere, and that you
Speaker 2: know that's not the whole Top forty. I'm not trying
Speaker 2: to talk shit on all of them, but there's some
Speaker 2: serious ass kissers out there. And then you try to
Speaker 2: tell them something. They're like, no, but x Y and
Speaker 2: Z said this, And I'm like, well, you're.
Speaker 1: So boring x Y and Z meaning like some industry
Speaker 1: person or right right damn. Do you feel like a
Speaker 1: commercial artist, like an artist who's operating or do you
Speaker 1: feel I feel.
Speaker 2: Like an artist but I know I'm not in the
Speaker 2: what they call the top forty country genre, and that
Speaker 2: suits me just fine. I don't mind wherever they put me,
Speaker 2: because I'm not really looking to get into wars with
Speaker 2: folks that are ding dongs releasing songs like that crap
Speaker 2: ass Jason al Dean song. I mean, I don't need
Speaker 2: to get in that argument every day. That's a piece
Speaker 2: of shit.
Speaker 1: So I mean you don't at all feel kinship with
Speaker 1: contemporary pop country.
Speaker 2: I do with some of them, but there's not They's
Speaker 2: just not enough room. And and so if there's not
Speaker 2: enough room, I don't want to be in your club anyway.
Speaker 2: If you won't let me in the club, I don't
Speaker 2: want to be in your club.
Speaker 1: Do you really feel like they won't let you in
Speaker 1: the club?
Speaker 2: Oh? Hell no. You have to be like poised and
Speaker 2: say the right things, and you have to, you know,
Speaker 2: believe in wrapping yourself in the American flag. I don't.
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean, my cousin did six tours and
Speaker 2: killed himself. I'm not wrapping myself in the American flag.
Speaker 2: And among other things, I have no bodily autonomy, and
Speaker 2: I will talk about it. They won't let you in
Speaker 2: that club if you're going to talk about it.
Speaker 1: Wow, how do you square that with you know, working
Speaker 1: in the country idiom so to speak, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, like because the country feels more popular than
Speaker 1: it's ever but it's it's funny. I live in Long Beach, California.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: I was walking on the beach the other day.
Speaker 2: And I saw do you ever run in to give
Speaker 2: you on?
Speaker 1: No, I don't.
Speaker 2: Because I heard he lives there.
Speaker 1: He lives in Long Beach.
Speaker 2: Yeah really, wow, Okay that's what I heard. I really
Speaker 2: like that. I like the previous record a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I love GiB great, great voice. I miss
Speaker 1: I missed the baritones.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's tell him I need If you needs a
Speaker 2: violinist or a fiddlist, I.
Speaker 1: Will, I will, Okay, lasty teenager like like you know,
Speaker 1: Long Beach. In my history, here's never been a ton
Speaker 1: of people that have Like when you're just out in
Speaker 1: the out in the world, like on the beach, particularly listening.
Speaker 1: But it's like everywhere I go now it's country music.
Speaker 2: Yeah right.
Speaker 1: It feels like a like a boom time for the genre.
Speaker 2: You know, in some ways I think there there is
Speaker 2: that just because there's luckily that the tie we're in.
Speaker 2: We can find music other ways than what we're what
Speaker 2: we used to be limited to with just the regular
Speaker 2: old radio. Like now we've got the Internet and hopefully
Speaker 2: the algorithms don't kill everyone. But like they say, people
Speaker 2: over thirty five don't listen to new music. I was
Speaker 2: reading that recently too, But we've got ways that we
Speaker 2: find music, and we.
Speaker 1: Go younger than thirty five, by the way, rarely listen
Speaker 1: to new music too. Like it's it doesn't seem doesn't
Speaker 1: seem that way?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it doesn't, does it. Yeah, But it's cool
Speaker 2: because you can find music now on you know, on
Speaker 2: the many shows you have at your at your streaming
Speaker 2: platforms and your you know, TV shows and all that stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's a lot of bad music more music that way.
Speaker 1: I watched your video for Bad Behavior and a lot
Speaker 1: of people commenting they discovered your that song in the
Speaker 1: grocery store. Nice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the politics of sex at the grocery store. That
Speaker 2: sounds nice. I like that. I mean, my daughter discovered
Speaker 2: Christopher Cross at the grocery store really or whatever it is. Yeah,
Speaker 2: she's like I need that on my playlist. It's like
Speaker 2: that and bad Bunny, it's awesome Christ the grocery Store.
Speaker 1: That song, by the way, bad Woman, that's that's an
Speaker 1: incredible bad Woman. That's an incredible song. I got a gangster.
Speaker 2: I mean, let's go, let's go.
Speaker 1: Oh, when did you write that song?
Speaker 2: I think it was I wrote that one on the fly,
Speaker 2: kind of like in a ten day haze of writing.
Speaker 2: Like I like to write a record and then I
Speaker 2: like ten days before, so I get into a frenzy
Speaker 2: of wondering if I have the whole collection, and then
Speaker 2: I'll do one song a day, and then once I'm
Speaker 2: in the studio, I'll sometimes even write too. But my
Speaker 2: friend Lawrence Rothman, who produced my record, they said to me, man,
Speaker 2: they're so awesome. And then when I say something in
Speaker 2: the studio and nobody hears. They have a very low voice.
Speaker 2: So they said, they'll say, she said, could you do this?
Speaker 2: This is my bad impersonation, and then and everybody's like,
Speaker 2: oh shit, yeah, It's like it sounds like the voice
Speaker 2: of God. Their voice. Their voice is so low. They's
Speaker 2: such a tidy, you know, they don't weigh a lot.
Speaker 2: It's just interesting juxtaposition.
Speaker 1: So you you kind of got like a ten day
Speaker 1: writing haze and you always you don't have the right material.
Speaker 2: Yeah, always. And then they sent me this folder of
Speaker 2: what we call randoms. We call randoms now that's just
Speaker 2: basically tracks they've made up where it can be drums
Speaker 2: and sometimes it'll be pianos, sometimes it'll be beat sometimes
Speaker 2: it'll it'll be different stuff. And I just would go
Speaker 2: through and listen to them. And I found that one
Speaker 2: and I really liked it and moved a few measures
Speaker 2: out and in and then had a track and I
Speaker 2: wrote to it, which was the first time I ever
Speaker 2: tried doing that, which was pretty fun.
Speaker 1: Actually you wrote to the track.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd never done that, and they were they were
Speaker 2: scared to send me a folder of tracks. I was like, well,
Speaker 2: I'll try anything seven or eight times, and so I
Speaker 2: wrote to that once because you know, you know, you
Speaker 2: think you'll learn your lesson, but you usually takes four
Speaker 2: of the one time.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's like but it's like.
Speaker 3: You know, when you try something, like even if you
Speaker 3: did try something out or I don't know, say, I mean,
Speaker 3: how many times have I told myself I was never
Speaker 3: gonna drink whiskey and did it?
Speaker 2: Shit, keep doing it? And then I did it again.
Speaker 2: It's like Okay, I guess it's time number eight.
Speaker 1: That's hilarious. I'm gonna steal that seven or eight times. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What what what about the track like appealed to you?
Speaker 1: Did it immediately resonate with you or did you sort
Speaker 1: of just take it as a as a challenge, like, oh,
Speaker 1: let me just see if I can write to this
Speaker 1: or well.
Speaker 2: It was a folder of them, so I switched through
Speaker 2: them and it was actually I actually wrote a verse
Speaker 2: that I wanted to give you on to sing on,
Speaker 2: but he never responsed my emails because I wanted to
Speaker 2: do a remix. But it's like, come on, man, surely
Speaker 2: you can handle get an email for me. Surely you've
Speaker 2: got three seconds already wrote it. Just go sing it.
Speaker 2: Quit being like that.
Speaker 1: It sounds would have I would be an incredible song
Speaker 1: from the feature on there. And there is a really
Speaker 1: like you know, there is a I guess it's I
Speaker 1: don't know, soulful R and B. There's like a vein
Speaker 1: in there through the whole record of like it's super soulful.
Speaker 1: The whole record is incredibly so thank you. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: really I'm proud of it. Yeah, And it's really like
Speaker 1: I said, like something when I was listening to when
Speaker 1: I've listened to it, it's like, in its way it
Speaker 1: has what resonates with me when I listened to Pok,
Speaker 1: which kind of has this attitude, you know, it as
Speaker 1: like a real strong like I don't give a fuck. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Has that always been a part of your you said
Speaker 1: it's sort of new to your music. Has it always
Speaker 1: been that sort of self assurance and confidence that you
Speaker 1: said is sort of No.
Speaker 2: I used to care more. I used to care more.
Speaker 2: I used to care a lot more. And then I realized,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not trying to sound jaded or anything,
Speaker 2: but I realized how much people don't actually give a
Speaker 2: shit in return. So the reciprocation is a factor in
Speaker 2: my fuck giving definitely. And also when it comes to
Speaker 2: your art and having had a couple of near death experiences,
Speaker 2: I give less fucks now than I ever did. I'm like,
Speaker 2: I'm making my art and it's going to be my way,
Speaker 2: or you can go ahead and leave because I'm paying
Speaker 2: for the studio.
Speaker 1: Time you had a couple of near death experiences artistically
Speaker 1: or in life.
Speaker 2: In life, I had a ruptured my I didn't rupture
Speaker 2: it by any topic. Pregnancy, that ruptured and then I
Speaker 2: was internally bleeding all that and then my life was
Speaker 2: spared for some reason. And it must be to keep on,
Speaker 2: keep it on into all that. But anyway, then you
Speaker 2: know the me and my mom called the silly ways
Speaker 2: to die, like riding the horse around the swimming pool
Speaker 2: or some she has a horse.
Speaker 1: So does my mom?
Speaker 2: Really awesome.
Speaker 1: I gave a bride and it was terrible.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got bucked off and ran over once and
Speaker 1: that was it.
Speaker 2: Man, I got bucked off too, but it was because
Speaker 2: I was trying to do Jesse Jabe stuff like this
Speaker 2: was like just two years ago. I was like, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna pick up my friend and sling around the back,
Speaker 2: and the horse was like, no, the fuck you're not,
Speaker 2: and it bucked us both off. It was incredible. The
Speaker 2: insides of my thighs looked like I looked like I
Speaker 2: had just like took a be with I don't know,
Speaker 2: a bunch of lipstick.
Speaker 1: When you hit the ground for the top of a horse, man,
Speaker 1: it's just that's I don't even know. I'd be punched
Speaker 1: seven to eight times.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's you feel it everywhere. It's like there's
Speaker 2: nowhere for the shock to absorb except your own bones.
Speaker 1: No, it's it's the gnarliest thing I think I've ever experienced.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it feels like this is sort of a new
Speaker 1: addition to your character, personality, and music. It feels like
Speaker 1: there's like this inverse relationship between levels of fuck given
Speaker 1: and your sort of your your popularity seems to Does
Speaker 1: that feel true?
Speaker 2: I don't know if I'm very what qualifies as popular?
Speaker 1: Well, it definitely. It feels like you've had a really
Speaker 1: great three four years.
Speaker 2: No, I mean, I don't know. I live in the country,
Speaker 2: so I can't tell if I'm popular or not. It
Speaker 2: I recently deleted Twitter and don't do anything on Instagram like.
Speaker 1: Play of bigger shows, aren't you? I mean, it feels
Speaker 1: like people know you love you these days. No, right,
Speaker 1: I think I.
Speaker 2: Think I might be playing bigger shows. Uh, I think,
Speaker 2: I think so. I haven't really thought about it because
Speaker 2: it was my first four way out after COVID, so
Speaker 2: I had a little bit of shows to make up
Speaker 2: there at the beginning of this record cycle of from
Speaker 2: from COVID. So I think I guess so feels like.
Speaker 1: That be here I hear Howard Stern name check you, you know, I.
Speaker 2: Hear Howard Stern.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all different people. You know. I feel like the
Speaker 1: your music is getting better and better and better. It
Speaker 1: seems artists in the world it feels like there's sometimes
Speaker 1: an energy around them that you can feel from afar
Speaker 1: as a as a fan, as a listener, and it
Speaker 1: certainly feels that way about you. So that's it just
Speaker 1: seems ironic to me that the less you care to care,
Speaker 1: the more that people seem to care.
Speaker 2: Oh right, well, I care about the people that come
Speaker 2: to the show. When I care about the people that
Speaker 2: are actually, you know, supporting the music and believe the
Speaker 2: same things I believe, I care about that a lot.
Speaker 2: That's the part where the reciprocation feels good. It's other
Speaker 2: areas of music that I just don't need to concern
Speaker 2: myself with because I'm just going to keep on making
Speaker 2: music that helps me understand the world better. And if
Speaker 2: it makes me some new friends and fans because it
Speaker 2: helped them, then I feel like I feel like we're
Speaker 2: doing something right.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, we have to take another quick break and
Speaker 1: then we'll be back with more from my conversation with
Speaker 1: Amanda Shires. We're back with the rest of my conversation
Speaker 1: with Amanda Shires. Are you writing new stuff now?
Speaker 2: Yes, Yes, I've got one that I'm really proud of.
Speaker 2: The second I have a second one that's just kind
Speaker 2: of funny. I've been writing a bunch, but there's there's
Speaker 2: two or three that I'm really excited about.
Speaker 1: It's the one that you're really proud of.
Speaker 2: The one that I'm really proud of is living is
Speaker 2: what I call it, but it's it's super sad. And
Speaker 2: then I have this other one about Las Vegas. And
Speaker 2: then another one that's called the Talking Shires Blues that's
Speaker 2: it's like nine minutes long.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Wow, I'd like to get it to thirty three minutes
Speaker 2: or thirty five so it could be a whole record,
Speaker 2: just one song.
Speaker 1: Three weeks ago, have my very first Vegas experience. So
Speaker 1: how was it? I got there and I was like, damn,
Speaker 1: I think I'm I think I'm a movie.
Speaker 2: It's so fun.
Speaker 1: It was warm, and all of a sudden, I was like, wait,
Speaker 1: you can drink outside anywhere you want me. I thought
Speaker 1: we were kind of sneaking around with it. You know,
Speaker 1: you can drink outside. There's all kinds of crazy. Just
Speaker 1: there is no sense of shame out there is what
Speaker 1: I both said, and so I love amazing, but I
Speaker 1: beat myself.
Speaker 2: There's all this facade that's beautiful, and there's all this
Speaker 2: fun that you can have. There's some definitely some dark shit.
Speaker 2: It is fun every part of your brain and get
Speaker 2: some kind of action.
Speaker 1: It's crazy, it's it's out of control, but it's it's
Speaker 1: also like I can't. I don't know if I can.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know if I trust myself
Speaker 1: back there? Do you play when you go out there?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, I win. Yeah, I'm not that great at
Speaker 2: black jack, but I went at crabs.
Speaker 1: Like you went big or you just like like do
Speaker 1: you are you putting down there?
Speaker 2: I mean I'm winning big. I mean I accumulated as
Speaker 2: I go and kind of progressively get more and more.
Speaker 1: You know, what's the most you've lost gambling?
Speaker 2: Well, I did take my tour float sorry whoever's listening,
Speaker 2: that works for me, and I went and lost it
Speaker 2: all a blackjack and I took a bunch of money
Speaker 2: and won it all back. I took it out of
Speaker 2: my ATM so I could win it. It took me. I
Speaker 2: was late for bus. Call it took me, I don't know,
Speaker 2: like six hours to get it all back. But I
Speaker 2: had to go get it all back on the craps table.
Speaker 2: But the the dealer at Caesar's Palace remembers that day
Speaker 2: what I want and all that money back. It was
Speaker 2: close to four thousand dollars, but I want it all
Speaker 2: back plus like twelve dollars, so I felt good about myself.
Speaker 1: Rewind the story about hold Home. We want the story back.
Speaker 1: So you took your tour floats, you.
Speaker 2: Said, the tour float, the tour cash.
Speaker 1: Tour cash, the cash money for you guys to be
Speaker 1: on tour, to live and move around and do your thing.
Speaker 1: You took that cash and you took.
Speaker 2: It to play black jacket and you let some stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1: You lost it. You lost and you left four thousand.
Speaker 2: Yes, but I didn't lose it because I went to
Speaker 2: the ATM and got got five hundred dollars back and
Speaker 2: then spent the next rest of the night at the
Speaker 2: craps table getting it back. Yeah, it was, it was.
Speaker 2: It was a thing I'm never going to do again
Speaker 2: because it was. It was. It took a lot of
Speaker 2: work for twelve dollars. In the positive that I left with.
Speaker 2: That was like a whole day's work for twelve dollars.
Speaker 2: You know. I was like, I was like, well I
Speaker 2: lost that at blackjack. Well maybe if I just try hard,
Speaker 2: I could. That's the number one thing you should never
Speaker 2: do is just think that you could win it back.
Speaker 2: You should never think that. Go in there planning to lose,
Speaker 2: which you want to lose, and that's all. Don't take
Speaker 2: the tour money.
Speaker 1: And you and the guy the dealer still remembers, Oh
Speaker 1: he still remembers. Yeah, you've seen him since.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they've all been working there thirty five forty years
Speaker 2: and they remember that. And then one night I got
Speaker 2: kicked out of the Bolaggio because they thought what I
Speaker 2: was wearing was not a shirt. And I was like,
Speaker 2: your firstly, your suit and your title match. Nextly, this
Speaker 2: is sold as a shirt. It looks like a brawlett, yes,
Speaker 2: but it's a shirt and I was wearing a sheer
Speaker 2: top over it. So I got kicked out of the Bolaggio.
Speaker 2: That I threw a fit about how they were uh
Speaker 2: just you know, you know dress codes. What they are
Speaker 2: is that they're just not fair. They're meant to get
Speaker 2: like be away out get to kick people out of
Speaker 2: things anyway. So I went to Caesar's Palace where I
Speaker 2: made my friends, and that night I I won two
Speaker 2: thousand dollars and they were the same dealers.
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the most I've ever won two thousand, or
Speaker 2: maybe it was that it was three thousand because I
Speaker 2: had to win my keyboard players thousand dollars back for
Speaker 2: him because he lost his.
Speaker 1: I was like, doun't I got to Vegas song? It
Speaker 1: sounds like this is your place.
Speaker 2: I mean, I like the craps tables.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's going to be my place from now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I didn't know.
Speaker 2: And they have great shows. Did you go to any shows?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I saw. I saw. The whole reason we went
Speaker 1: out there is I was to go see Usher.
Speaker 2: So oh shit, that's awesome. Did you see his documentary
Speaker 2: tour movie?
Speaker 1: No, I didn't know he had a documentary on this tour.
Speaker 2: It's like maybe it's like not this tour. It was
Speaker 2: like one of his older ones where he does like
Speaker 2: I have a DVD collection of concert DVDs like Ushers
Speaker 2: one of them, and it like his dance moves and
Speaker 2: like he does his dancing and the shows, and then
Speaker 2: does some behind the scenes stuff, like he was late
Speaker 2: to a show one time because he wanted to spend
Speaker 2: eight hours at the mall. He loves the mall. I
Speaker 2: like knowing little details about things, the people.
Speaker 1: You know. Yeah, you're knowing these details about people's lives.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a music fan.
Speaker 1: He likes to spend time with the mall. I didn't
Speaker 1: know that about us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, he likes the mall.
Speaker 1: What else is in your your DVD collection, your music collection?
Speaker 2: Destiny's Child at the Fox Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Wow, it was probably a great one.
Speaker 2: That's really, really, really good. And it's then I have
Speaker 2: the her other one where she has the all the
Speaker 2: ladies playing all the instruments. You know, she was very
Speaker 2: you know, thinking of things way before I even had
Speaker 2: thoughts of things. But that one in Atlanta, that concert
Speaker 2: is so good. Yeah. I've watched that one a whole lot,
Speaker 2: probably too much. I'm glad it still works. I also
Speaker 2: like comedy. Do you do you know that Seth Galifianakis
Speaker 2: live at the Purple Onion?
Speaker 1: I think I've heard of that, but I don't think
Speaker 1: i've seen it.
Speaker 2: It's really funny.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not that bit. It's like a small place, right, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: The purple and then he's got a piano that he plays.
Speaker 2: It's really funny. I really like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, people have told me about that. I need to
Speaker 1: see that. He's a character, that guy. I see him
Speaker 1: around Venice sometimes.
Speaker 2: And he's yeah, oh really that's awesome, just Chris. I
Speaker 2: would like to run into him in Venice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's a good place to run it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's about where i'd imagine running into him. What do
Speaker 1: you spend most of your time listening to? Do you
Speaker 1: listen to music a lot time?
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, like not when I'm writing, but I listened
Speaker 2: to music a whole lot. I mean, I'm still stuck
Speaker 2: on the Scissor record. I got that. It finally came
Speaker 2: to the male vinyl and the seventy six songs that
Speaker 2: Tom Petty and then released from Live at the Film
Speaker 2: or Auditorium.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like an a mission like Scissor hasn't quite
Speaker 1: it's been years now. I mean, I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: this will never happen, but okay, it's hit for me yet.
Speaker 2: Okay, so there's this song, let me get my record
Speaker 2: or quick so I can tell you. Yeah, this is
Speaker 2: really good. Ray Charles at to Newport. That record playing
Speaker 2: with the Horn, That one's so good. That's a rare one.
Speaker 1: I don't have that on vinyl or nothing, but I
Speaker 1: listened to that all the time. That's great.
Speaker 2: It's you gotta find. It's hard to find, but you could.
Speaker 2: The one that she has is if to start, If
Speaker 2: you need to start first, this is awesome record cover
Speaker 2: and there's on side three it says nobody gets Me.
Speaker 2: That's good, and then you know the other songs are
Speaker 2: really good. She's a fantastic writer.
Speaker 1: Friend helped write a lot of that record too.
Speaker 2: Tell your friend, Tell your friend, I'm interested in writing
Speaker 2: with that friend. Yeah, why not. I'm interested as hell
Speaker 2: this This song's are fantastic.
Speaker 1: I'll text them as soon as we text him.
Speaker 2: I but that song Nobody Gets Me. I think that's
Speaker 2: a good place to start because you know it's it's soulful.
Speaker 2: They don't usually lead with the soulful tracks when they're
Speaker 2: releasing a record, you know, they tend to put the
Speaker 2: other types out there.
Speaker 1: Yeah first, that's why I like, That's why, that's why
Speaker 1: to bring it back. Because I'm a master at what
Speaker 1: I do. I'm just joking. Take it like a man,
Speaker 1: because it leads me Hot for the Dove. It leads
Speaker 1: off and it's just soulful the whole way through Man
Speaker 1: and it ends the last track My Own Galaxy is
Speaker 1: also an incredible song, and I love it also so
Speaker 1: full its way, but then it ends like it's like
Speaker 1: a heater that guitar solo into your violin, into your fiddle.
Speaker 1: I don't know what you want to call it.
Speaker 2: Either way, it's a violin when you're selling it in
Speaker 2: a fiddle, when you're.
Speaker 1: Buying it violent, it's incredible. And then if you listen
Speaker 1: to that motherfucker, cause I'm laying my turntable's broken, so
Speaker 1: I just do almost all listening on streaming now. But
Speaker 1: if you listen to it with like the record repeating
Speaker 1: and you know, the little the transition from the end
Speaker 1: of My Own Galaxy back into Hawk for the Dove
Speaker 1: is that's a great.
Speaker 2: Somebody's doing it right. I always wonder if somebody's doing
Speaker 2: it right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. Are you going to continue working with
Speaker 1: Lawrence on that?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean, I feel like we still have much
Speaker 2: to to see about in the music musical world, you know,
Speaker 2: I think we work well together and all that. But yeah,
Speaker 2: if they want to, I bet why wouldn't they want to?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Christmas record?
Speaker 2: Yeah, what else are they going to do better?
Speaker 1: Yeah? You are? And you also have the high women going.
Speaker 1: Still does that still feel like? Does that still feel fun? And?
Speaker 2: Oh that one's real fun? It kind of During COVID
Speaker 2: we of course couldn't play it. Our shows got canceled.
Speaker 2: Then afterwards everybody's doing their own thing. But we played
Speaker 2: at the Gorge recently and Maren Morris, my friend, she
Speaker 2: said that we were making a new record, so we
Speaker 2: will be doing that.
Speaker 1: You guys are gonna make a new record.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we are. We talked about that. She brought
Speaker 2: it up on stage this time. It wasn't me that
Speaker 2: let the cat on the bag. So I it's like,
Speaker 2: good job not sharing too much shows because I've done
Speaker 2: that before with that group and it was over spoke
Speaker 2: too soon and.
Speaker 1: Well that's all your friends, right, So is it like
Speaker 1: if you do mess up, it's all it's all love, right,
Speaker 1: it's all love.
Speaker 2: No, it's all love, it's all love. We're we're we
Speaker 2: used to say we got married first, then learned each
Speaker 2: other and now now are now we know each other
Speaker 2: really well and it's like perfect less nerve wracking.
Speaker 1: Do you have songs that you've written specifically for that project?
Speaker 2: I do?
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 2: Our plan is to continue sharing our songs with each
Speaker 2: other and you know, find a date to start recording
Speaker 2: and may the best song win again? Was how we
Speaker 2: did it last time?
Speaker 1: How do you then? Okay, so hold on? So obviously
Speaker 1: four of y'all incredible artists on your own coming together
Speaker 1: do the high women when you bringing a song to
Speaker 1: hopefully get them to pick up? Like, how do you
Speaker 1: balance keeping songs that you love for your own sort
Speaker 1: of record and how knowing that you sort of need
Speaker 1: to bring sort of the best the best to that
Speaker 1: group of.
Speaker 2: To me, in my mind, I'm a little bit it's
Speaker 2: easier for me to compartmentalize the two things for my
Speaker 2: own work. It's it's it's well, while the Highwayman was
Speaker 2: my idea, yes, but it's the subject matter of that
Speaker 2: is more about. I say that we'll always be playing
Speaker 2: and singing as long as there's a reason and there
Speaker 2: are reasons still for that band to go on, and
Speaker 2: that's for you know, to keep widening the path for
Speaker 2: all people women and everybody else in country music to
Speaker 2: tell stories and you know, talk about everything from just
Speaker 2: the way that we would like to see the world
Speaker 2: different basically, and then in our own personal stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we could do that, but to me, it feels easier
Speaker 2: to do in a group scenario sing about things that
Speaker 2: are you know, the injustices of the world or the
Speaker 2: ways that not everybody's equal in in a group, it
Speaker 2: feels more comfortable for me and more safe to do
Speaker 2: to make it feel more like a gang and solo.
Speaker 2: I've done a couple of things like that, and it's
Speaker 2: just it's just it's hard because you have you know,
Speaker 2: it's just you singing that song about abortion. There's you
Speaker 2: singing that by yourself up on stage. And I just
Speaker 2: like the that it feels safer to do with with
Speaker 2: other folks on stage that feel the same way as
Speaker 2: you do. And then with my own music too. I
Speaker 2: don't wanna be singing all those songs all the time,
Speaker 2: and I want to sing songs and make them up
Speaker 2: and make the world change. I don't wanna be l
Speaker 2: living these songs and seeing how slow it is every
Speaker 2: day that that get me down at a bog. So
Speaker 2: I have other things I want to explore, either via
Speaker 2: my own self and stories or the stories that other
Speaker 2: people tell me within their you know, life s ups
Speaker 2: and downs, woes and whatever. I don't really write joyful songs,
Speaker 2: so just be dirges, Amanda Shires and her dirges.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, I don't know. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: but you know, I guess something about it. Like Neil
Speaker 1: Young Southern Man is kind of a dirge, but it
Speaker 1: also is like, yeah, gets me going, you know, at
Speaker 1: the same time, so can be it's not like you know,
Speaker 1: it can be both the dirge and sort of not
Speaker 1: necessarily down because I wouldn't classify I wouldn't classified records
Speaker 1: as downers or like, you know, anything makes me feel
Speaker 1: doubt that's true.
Speaker 2: There aren't that. It's a You're right, Do you.
Speaker 1: Feel like you're still exploring the same themes as take
Speaker 1: it like a man?
Speaker 2: Is that there some of them? I do. I do
Speaker 2: still think there's there's there's more to say about the
Speaker 2: nature of being a person that's multi dimensional. I guess.
Speaker 2: I don't know. Yeah, I just do. I just do
Speaker 2: my best and we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: You certainly do contain multitudes and the thing. I mean,
Speaker 1: my own galaxy. That that that stuff you talk about. About.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like the position of It's like I
Speaker 1: both you know, am doing the dishes and doing the
Speaker 1: grocery list and yeah, cooking up dinner and blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: But also it's like, you know, there's.
Speaker 2: The whole nother me, or the dimension of.
Speaker 1: You beyond the domestic stuff that parenting, you know, and
Speaker 1: marriage and family brings.
Speaker 2: And yeah, exactly that.
Speaker 1: I can't say I experienced life the exact same way
Speaker 1: as you obviously, but as a married person with kids,
Speaker 1: that does resonate with me, like that need, that feeling
Speaker 1: of like man, I am like fuck, I am too
Speaker 1: people existing at once, and how do I how do
Speaker 1: I saciate both things and honorable things? You know, that's
Speaker 1: a tough, true, it is true thing to figure out.
Speaker 1: It's a tough balance to figure out.
Speaker 2: And then you do go to Vegas and you're like, damn,
Speaker 2: I missed my kid. How am I supposed to have
Speaker 2: any fun?
Speaker 1: That's always the damn catch twenty two? You can't wait
Speaker 1: to get away, you plan it, you get away and
Speaker 1: use pine for your kids.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, really sure?
Speaker 1: Well cool, thank you for chatting No thank you. Thanks
Speaker 1: Amanda Shires for the music and for talking to a
Speaker 1: song Broken Record. You can hear our favorite songs from Amanda,
Speaker 1: as well as her latest album Take It Like a Man,
Speaker 1: and her album with Bobby Nelson called Loving You on
Speaker 1: a playlist at Broken Record podcast dot com. You can
Speaker 1: subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash
Speaker 1: Broken Record Podcast, where you can find all of our
Speaker 1: new episodes. You can follow us on Twitter at broken Record.
Speaker 1: Broken Record is produced with help from Leah Rose, Jason Gambrel,
Speaker 1: Eric Sandler, Nisha Vinkutt, and Sophie Crane. Our podcast is
Speaker 1: engineered by Echo Mountain. Broken Record is a production of
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Speaker 1: podcast app. Our theme music expec. Kenny Beats, I'm justin Richmond.