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Speaker 1: Taking a Walk. Welcome to Taking a Walk on Buzz Night,

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Speaker 1: and we are rounding out our fresh Start twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: six theme week. We're celebrating artists who have had the

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Speaker 1: courage to reinvent themselves and claim their own artistic identity.

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Speaker 1: Amanda Shires has never been content to stay in one

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Speaker 1: lane as a fiddle virtuoso. She could have easily carved

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Speaker 1: out a comfortable career as a sideman, but Amanda wanted more.

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Speaker 1: She wanted her own voice, her own songs, her own truth.

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Speaker 1: So she gave herself a fresh start, stepping into the

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Speaker 1: spotlight as a solo artist and songwriter, crafting deeply personal

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Speaker 1: albums that showcase not just her instrumental prowess, but her

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Speaker 1: a gift for raw, honest storytelling. A fresh start sometimes

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Speaker 1: means finding your voice when you've been someone else's accompaniment.

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Speaker 1: It means taking up space, speaking your truth, and refusing

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Speaker 1: to be sidelined. In this conversation, Amanda shares her journey

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Speaker 1: from a comp musician to fearless songwriter an advocate, reminding

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Speaker 1: us that reinvention isn't just about career, It's about claiming

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Speaker 1: we really are, especially in the face of personal adversity.

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Speaker 1: Amanda Shires, a returning guest, is next on Taking a Walk,

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Speaker 1: Taking a Walk. Hi, Amanda, that's so nice to see

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Speaker 1: you again.

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Speaker 2: It's nice to be seen.

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Speaker 1: And welcome to taking a walk. You know, since we

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Speaker 1: last did our episode, I asked this opening question, so

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Speaker 1: you're not going to get away with avoiding it. The

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Speaker 1: question is, since we call the podcast taking a Walk,

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Speaker 1: is there somebody living or dead that you would like

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Speaker 1: to take a walk with and where would you take

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Speaker 1: that walk with them?

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Speaker 2: Okay, I would take a walk, I know, I said

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Speaker 2: Leonard Cohen last time. I can't say the same one.

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Speaker 1: Well, I don't know why you could not say that.

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Speaker 2: I'd take it. I'd take a walk with James Joyce

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Speaker 2: and complain about you know, some Ulysses and Finnegans, wake

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Speaker 2: a little and see what the response would be.

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Speaker 1: Complain. Yeah, what do you think you would? What would

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Speaker 1: he say?

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Speaker 2: I have no earthly idea.

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Speaker 1: That's why you would take it right.

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Speaker 2: Exactly exactly. Maybe we would do the whole walk in

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Speaker 2: Ireland even.

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Speaker 1: Oh that's magical. I think you guys would would have

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Speaker 1: a good conversation.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I would probably leave them either after a fistfight

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Speaker 2: and or you know, after a fist fight, then a

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Speaker 2: beer or a pint or something.

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Speaker 1: Congratulations on the new album, Nobody's Girl. It's described as

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Speaker 1: your most personal work to date, even though I feel

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Speaker 1: like all of your work is deeply personal. What inspired

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Speaker 1: you to take this direction and how did that writing

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Speaker 1: process for you unfold for this time?

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Speaker 2: Well, I think I'm inspired by kind of what I'm

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Speaker 2: always inspired by what's going on in my life, but

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Speaker 2: I wouldn't call it inspiration as much as needing to

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Speaker 2: work through the storms in my life at the time.

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Speaker 2: And the process was just the same as a process

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Speaker 2: as it is when you're like not writing songs when

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Speaker 2: you're in the middle of ruin and trying to figure

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Speaker 2: out how to take what pieces persist and go forward.

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Speaker 2: And so in doing that, then in the time that

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Speaker 2: it takes and the thinking that it takes and the

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Speaker 2: reflection that it takes, I think there are a lot

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Speaker 2: of emotions that come with that, and a lot of

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Speaker 2: feelings and a lot of instances where I try I

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Speaker 2: was trying to work through and process my grief for

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Speaker 2: my life through writing about it.

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Speaker 1: And would you take breaks during that period, would you,

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Speaker 1: you know, steamroll through a song and then take a

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Speaker 1: deep breath, start painting or do other things to creatively release.

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Speaker 1: I mean, what what is your sort of workflow process?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's an interesting question. The workflow is. I'm

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Speaker 2: kind of a slow writer because well, that's just because

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Speaker 2: that's how I am. I write slow, and I edit

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Speaker 2: and I revise, and occasionally I'll write something fast. But

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Speaker 2: sometimes when there's not enough words to describe what you're

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Speaker 2: going through, that's when I take it out on the canvas.

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Speaker 2: I feel like that. That's that's you know. I do

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Speaker 2: abstract painting and you know, gestural work because there's just

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Speaker 2: some things that are just either better unsaid or easier

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Speaker 2: to work out on a canvas where at the end

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Speaker 2: you can like it or paint overrit.

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Speaker 1: Was there other stuff that was going on that you

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Speaker 1: were inspired by, whether it be particular readings during that

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Speaker 1: creative time or particular music by other artists during that time.

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Speaker 1: Was there other stuff surrounding you as you were creating

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Speaker 1: this new work.

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Speaker 2: Maggie Smith's book You Could Make This Place Beautiful? I

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Speaker 2: was reading that book in just the beautiful way that

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Speaker 2: she shared her experience in her feelings made me feel

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Speaker 2: encouraged well, I mean, whether she knows it or not,

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Speaker 2: she encouraged me to share my own experiences and what

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Speaker 2: I'd been going through. There's also Glennon Doyle. We can

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Speaker 2: do hard things. And I got super into a new

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Speaker 2: hobby called backgammon.

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Speaker 1: Ah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm looking for anybody I can find to

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Speaker 2: play with. I just really love it. I joined the

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Speaker 2: Nashville Backgammon Association and I'm not very good yet, but

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Speaker 2: I will be one day.

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Speaker 1: Maybe is there like a special card carrying membership that

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Speaker 1: you get or.

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Speaker 2: I think you just kind of get to say.

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Speaker 1: That it's well, everyone is, you know, these days, bragging

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Speaker 1: about pickleball. So I think this sounds better to me,

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Speaker 1: doesn't it to you?

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Speaker 2: It does? And you know, I tried a lot of

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Speaker 2: things over the past couple of years to find things

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Speaker 2: that I like to do outside of gardening and making art,

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Speaker 2: and I tried pickleball. And I am like a giraffe,

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Speaker 2: a baby giraffe on roller skates when I do anything

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Speaker 2: like that. I mean, they just rolled their eyes a lot.

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Speaker 2: They're like, didn't haven't you ever played tennis? I was like, no,

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Speaker 2: there was a tennis in Lubock Texas.

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Speaker 1: Was there music from other artists during this creative period

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Speaker 1: for Nobody's Girl that you were particularly listening to or

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Speaker 1: was it sort of, you know, the same ebb and

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Speaker 1: flow that you would always go through with music.

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Speaker 2: Well, during this time I was. I put on the

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Speaker 2: D'Angelo in the Vanguard Black Messiah a lot, over and over.

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Speaker 2: I just the musicianship and the sounds. Really they took

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Speaker 2: me somewhere else and it's just beautiful. And I also

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Speaker 2: listened to Jack White's No Name a lot, super loud,

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Speaker 2: like as loud as I could turn it up, especially

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Speaker 2: that song That's how I'm feeling right now, among others.

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Speaker 2: But then I listened to You Want It Darker Leonard

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Speaker 2: Cohen's work over and over because there's something beautiful about

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Speaker 2: the I don't know the acceptance aspect of that record,

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Speaker 2: not the mortality part. That part's beautiful, but I wasn't

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Speaker 2: listening to it for that. And I also just find

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Speaker 2: his voice very calming.

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Speaker 1: So who are the folks that you collaborated on with

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Speaker 1: the other musicians on Nobody's Girl.

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Speaker 2: Well, my producer friend Lawrence Rothman, I.

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Speaker 1: Thought so, I thought he would be there.

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Speaker 2: We wrote this song away it goes together. One day

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Speaker 2: in La we were sitting around in the studio and

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Speaker 2: just started making up this little little chord progression and

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Speaker 2: then I wrote all the words in probably about two hours.

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Speaker 2: So there you have one.

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Speaker 1: Fast song for me, and it's an amazing song.

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Speaker 2: Oh thanks. I also worked with my longtime piano player

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Speaker 2: Peter Levin. We wrote a song called Lately Together and

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Speaker 2: it's on the record Nobody's Girl, And that was a

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Speaker 2: conversation we were having that day about you know how

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Speaker 2: checking in with each other, how are you doing? And

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Speaker 2: then we decided to write a song as a conversation

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Speaker 2: about our conversation, and that's how we born.

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Speaker 1: I like that. I like the flow of that. That's

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Speaker 1: pretty neat. What was different for you though about recording

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Speaker 1: this particular album, just in terms of the technical aspects,

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Speaker 1: if anything.

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Speaker 2: Different, There's always different things. I mean, this is this.

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Speaker 2: When I went to do my second session of recording

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Speaker 2: in La Lawrence's air conditioner did not work, and it

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Speaker 2: was the heat of summer and it was the sweatiest

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Speaker 2: I've ever been when I've recorded, And I definitely think

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Speaker 2: that was difficult. If find like your little instruments slipping

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Speaker 2: off your you know, your hand slip and you're holding

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Speaker 2: things slippery. That was kind of different. Then we tried

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Speaker 2: some new things. We tried some new things with the fiddle.

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Speaker 2: We put the fiddle through a few we kind of

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Speaker 2: made like a sample of the fiddle a little bit

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Speaker 2: in that way you can play it with the piano.

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Speaker 2: I thought that was pretty fun and then kind of,

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Speaker 2: you know, may sound less fiddily. It's nice to try

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Speaker 2: new sounds when you're you know, used to hearing it

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Speaker 2: one way your whole life.

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Speaker 1: Is that one of the many things that makes it

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Speaker 1: special working with with Lawrence.

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Speaker 2: Yes, And another special thing about working with Lawrence is

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Speaker 2: is they bring a lot of energy and a lot

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Speaker 2: of a lot of positivity, super encouraging to be around.

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Speaker 2: And sometimes I would say one thing that's not my

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Speaker 2: favorite is that Lawrence will pushed me to write or

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Speaker 2: record even more than I want to. And that happened

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Speaker 2: this time, and in the end it was the right

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Speaker 2: thing to do, even though I I, you know, kicked

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Speaker 2: and fussed and I and I'm not easy when I

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Speaker 2: get like that either, I get I get kind of mean.

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Speaker 2: But I did it, and then I was grateful and

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Speaker 2: everything was resolved, and I needed to get to those

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Speaker 2: those couple of songs, even if it meant writing a

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Speaker 2: couple of trash songs. And it's the process, really, how

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Speaker 2: you The time it takes is the time it takes,

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Speaker 2: you know. And I'm looking at this is my best friend.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I can't picture you being difficult in a

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Speaker 1: process in the studio with Lawrence. I think you're being

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Speaker 1: hard on yourself.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, kind of stubborn, you know. And sometimes I just I,

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Speaker 2: you know, I'm just like I don't want to do that.

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Speaker 2: You can't make me do something I don't want to do,

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Speaker 2: you know. And then it's like a kind of like

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Speaker 2: a lot of back and forth, and I finally do

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Speaker 2: what they want me to do, because how could you

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Speaker 2: not when you have a friendship, and you know, I

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Speaker 2: could go stand outside and stop my feet, or I

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Speaker 2: could get to it, but sometimes you have to stand

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Speaker 2: outside and stomp your feet and then get to it.

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Speaker 1: But isn't some of it just playful jousting?

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Speaker 2: Yes, sometimes it is. And sometimes in the studio when

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Speaker 2: when Laurence this only happened like twice, would push me

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Speaker 2: and then I was hot and sweaty, and then it's

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Speaker 2: like I'm also singing about my feelings, which is you

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Speaker 2: know which a lot of times when you're studios, the

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Speaker 2: first time you've ever played the song ever, you've played

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Speaker 2: it and you wrote it and you said, good, did that? Well,

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Speaker 2: then you go in and then it's the first time.

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Speaker 2: It's already uncomfortable, and then you add the hot sweaties,

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Speaker 2: and then you add the what's going on in the world.

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Speaker 2: Everything feels uncomfortable, and then suddenly you're arguing about how

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Speaker 2: you I guess you're lazy Shires.

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Speaker 1: No now, but I'll bet there's a fair amount of

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Speaker 1: not only jousting, but but laughter and good vibes as

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Speaker 1: well in the studio.

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Speaker 2: Yes, they're definitely right. There is because I think we

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Speaker 2: can we tend to be able to turn anything into

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Speaker 2: a joke, and that's kind of that's that's a beautiful

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Speaker 2: thing when you have jokes and inside jokes that are

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Speaker 2: born out of ridiculousness.

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Speaker 1: Is there anything in particular you could share that created

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Speaker 1: some belly laughter.

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Speaker 2: So there's this song peace of Mind, and the chorus

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Speaker 2: is like, oh, I hope you like, oh you're missing

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Speaker 2: peace of mind. In the beginning, I wrote you're missing

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Speaker 2: piece of pizzas of mind, and I tried to sing

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Speaker 2: it and it was pizza, You're missing pizza mind. That

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Speaker 2: was hilarious, pizza like we're doing that little Caesar's commercial.

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Speaker 2: That was good.

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Speaker 1: That was really I love it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's that's pretty embarrassing. I don't know how

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Speaker 2: I didn't catch that early on.

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear. I'd love to hear the outtake sometimes.

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Speaker 2: Missing piece of piece of mind? So goofy.

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Speaker 1: How do you ban balance vulnerability and artistry when you're

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Speaker 1: sharing such personal stories through your music?

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Speaker 2: This is just how I am. I'm just I just

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Speaker 2: have to be myself. And somehow I was just you know,

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Speaker 2: born like this or else I was, you know, a

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Speaker 2: product of my raising. I don't know the answer there.

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Speaker 2: But when people you know are open and honest with me,

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Speaker 2: I feel like I I just feel like I learned

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Speaker 2: a lot, or feel like there's a better connection with people.

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Speaker 2: And it's not like I choose to be vulnerable or

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Speaker 2: a person that tends to really answer the question when

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Speaker 2: you say how are you? I know I should probably

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Speaker 2: like sometimes say I'm doing great, let's keep walking. But

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Speaker 2: I've just never been like that. I don't know if

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Speaker 2: it's because it could be because of my granddad. I'm

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Speaker 2: not sure, because I asked him how he was a lot,

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Speaker 2: and he would always start talking about his health, and

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Speaker 2: at the end of those long conversations he is like,

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Speaker 2: don't ever ask an old man about his health. I

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Speaker 2: don't no why. But anyway, that's just how I am.

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Speaker 2: I just ramble along like I'm doing now.

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Speaker 1: It's not rambling, it's a taken a walk interview, That's

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Speaker 1: what it is. Do you share in the process of

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Speaker 1: creating with others outside your circle in the studio, such

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Speaker 1: as your mom? I mean, do you share what's going

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Speaker 1: on with her in the process of creating new stuff?

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Speaker 2: I do. I share with my mom probably more than

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Speaker 2: I share with anybody. A lot of it is, you know,

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Speaker 2: very much like how your kid wants to show you

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Speaker 2: something that they're proud of, or in my case, if

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Speaker 2: I am proud of it, yes, that's one thing, but

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Speaker 2: if I want her opinion on it or thoughts on it.

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Speaker 2: I feel like she's always been a safe person to

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Speaker 2: share things with, and we've been close and talk about everything.

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Speaker 2: I'm lucky, but that's about all as far as people

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Speaker 2: I share it with and I don't share like demos.

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Speaker 2: On occasion, I'll listen to my own demo to make

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Speaker 2: sure I like the words, but I don't. I don't

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Speaker 2: listen to it at all for my own self. And

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Speaker 2: I also like to share with my mom because she

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Speaker 2: makes a lot of what I do possible, whether it

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Speaker 2: be making snacks or helping me with my daughter or overall,

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Speaker 2: like backbone support, I feel like I got a lot

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Speaker 2: of my backbone. And I guess chat I don't know

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Speaker 2: what the word for this is, but like where you

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Speaker 2: feel like questions are challenging or curious about things and

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Speaker 2: wanting to know how things work and why, and you know,

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Speaker 2: challenging kind of norms.

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Speaker 1: I guess you know, since we last we're together for

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Speaker 1: the podcast, one thing that is really gone crazy out there,

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Speaker 1: among many things, has been you know, things such as

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Speaker 1: chat GPT, what's your take on AI and things like

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Speaker 1: chat GPT.

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Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's already here, so it's a matter

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Speaker 2: of going along with it or not. Kind of like

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Speaker 2: how when we got trains and horses and internet and

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Speaker 2: and things like that. Radio then it's it's a bit

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Speaker 2: scary when you go deep and read like how how

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Speaker 2: what you know? Some people are saying about about the

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Speaker 2: future of humanity and things like that, but I think

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Speaker 2: that there are more more important things in the moment, like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: I keep working on that, but they're more probably important

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Speaker 2: things to be thinking on and chat GPT and as

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Speaker 2: far as they hear and now. I mean, it's both important,

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Speaker 2: but maybe use it to learn how to help other people.

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Speaker 2: I guess I'm not sure. It's hard to say, Oh,

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Speaker 2: I don't like it because as much as I love

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Speaker 2: Neil Young, I wish that, you know, it was more

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Speaker 2: cool with dreaming and stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: So you're gonna be hitting the road as always. Do

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Speaker 1: you love the road as much as you always have?

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Speaker 2: That's a good question. I am not sure. I haven't

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Speaker 2: been on the road since October of twenty twenty three. Really,

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Speaker 2: I've done a couple of one offs. And I love

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Speaker 2: to play live. I love to connect with folks that

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Speaker 2: you know, feel similarly to me, and I love to

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Speaker 2: you know, see the landscape and all that. But I

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Speaker 2: also do get nervous because it's it's gonna be you know,

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna bring mercy. My Mom's gonna bring mercy out

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Speaker 2: some and it's it's gonna be a different scenario than

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Speaker 2: it's been before. Not to say I'm not strong enough

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Speaker 2: four that I definitely am. So I don't really know,

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Speaker 2: Like I know, I loved it before, so how could

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Speaker 2: I not love it again? We'll see so far, I

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Speaker 2: still love it.

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Speaker 1: Different adjustments, you got different adjustments to make.

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Speaker 2: Last time I was on the road, I loved it. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I don't know, because I'm not on it.

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Speaker 1: Are there any genres you have in touch that you

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Speaker 1: can envision touching creatively?

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Speaker 2: Genres? Let's think I'm open to everything, you know, especially

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Speaker 2: if somebody invited me to do something. I wouldn't just go,

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Speaker 2: you know, hop into a death metal band. I would

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Speaker 2: definitely bead the lead, the compadre there to invite me

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Speaker 2: and you know, work something out.

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Speaker 1: A death metal fan.

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Speaker 2: That you I'll try anything, seven or eight times.

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Speaker 1: I love I love hearing Amanda Shire say death metal band.

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Speaker 1: There's just something, Uh, there's an irony to that. I

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Speaker 1: don't know.

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Speaker 2: I mean, who doesn't want to hear a death metal fiddle?

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Speaker 1: That's right? You got that right. Are there lessons from

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Speaker 1: the past year that found their way into your music

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Speaker 1: intentionally or unintentionally.

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Speaker 2: That's a good lessons, intentional or unintentional. Well. I did

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Speaker 2: take a jiu jitsu class and I signed up for

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Speaker 2: it because I was trying to figure out a way

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Speaker 2: to get cuddles. And at the end of the class,

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Speaker 2: I asked if next time I could just be the

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Speaker 2: person they demonstrated on and the guy said no and

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Speaker 2: kicked me out. And that lesson I learned there was,

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Speaker 2: if you're going to sign up for a new thing

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Speaker 2: to do, make sure you're there to try and do

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Speaker 2: that thing.

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Speaker 1: They kicked you out.

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Speaker 2: Really well, they kind of just said it, you know,

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Speaker 2: they didn't find it as amusing as I did.

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Speaker 1: They discouraged you from attending further. How's that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they wanted to me to like, you know, really

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Speaker 2: participate and probably get you know, the room kind of

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Speaker 2: smelled anyway, it wasn't really set up for cuddling. Other

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Speaker 2: things I learned are I guess that resilience is you know,

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Speaker 2: glamorous or pretty. It's just you get your pieces and

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Speaker 2: you keep on going. Also learned that I'm tougher than

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Speaker 2: I think I am.

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Speaker 1: Any advice you'd give to others navigating transitions.

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Speaker 2: You don't have to figure it all out. And you

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Speaker 2: don't have to figure it all out all at once,

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Speaker 2: or any of it all at once. You just got

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Speaker 2: to figure out what you can and keep on. You

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Speaker 2: don't have to figure it all out in one day.

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Speaker 1: Take your time, Amanda, I adore you. Thank you for

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Speaker 1: being on again Taking a Walk, and congrats on the

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Speaker 1: new music and all the best always to you.

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Speaker 2: Awesome, Thank you.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a

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Speaker 1: Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends

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Speaker 1: and follow us so you never an episode. Taking a

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Speaker 1: Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, and

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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts