Amanda Shires: Last News

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticBilly Joe Shaver, one of the figureheads of the “outlaw country” movement that came out of Texas and flourished in the 1970s, is the subject of a forthcoming tribute album that sees some of the top names in country and Americana saluting the late legend, including Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert, George Strait, Nathaniel Rateliff, Rodney Crowell and Margo Price. The project, “Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver,” comes out on New West Nov.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Jason Isbell hasn’t “gone solo” in just one way, he’s gone solo in every way. Or at least he has for a New York minute.

Jason Isbell is returning to the road.The 44-year-old Southern rocker just announced the ‘Live 2024 Tour’ that will send him and his band The 400 Unit along with special guests like Turnpike Troubadours, Aimee Mann, Palehound, his wife Amanda Shires and more to venues all over North America from January through May 2024.Along the way, Isbell and co. are scheduled to stop into New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on Saturday, Feb.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic When Bobbie Nelson, longtime pianist for her brother, Willie Nelson, died in March 2022 at age 91, she left behind a recently completed posthumous album, recorded collaboratively with singer Amanda Shires. That record, “Loving You,” is finally seeing the light of day and shedding additional daylight on Nelson’s supreme talent as a player, which wasn’t always the main point of focus in the Nelsons’ family band, for obvious reasons. As a happy byproduct, this beautiful labor of love also casting sunshine on Shires’ skills as a vocal interpreter, as they both take on Willie songs, standards (“Over the Rainbow” and “Summertime,” the latter with a guest vocal from Bobbie’s brother) and other shared favorites.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Jason Isbell has a new album out, “Weathervanes,” and he says, “I’m happy to be talking about it. You know, I’ve been talking about a lot of other stuff lately, and it’s nice to actually discuss the job that I chose for myself.” Nothing against the Other Stuff on his part, mind you. He’s proud of the much-heralded HBO Max documentary that director Sam Jones made about him, “Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed,” even if it did open him and his wife, Amanda Shires, up to a huge amount amount of personal scrutiny. And he’ll sure be spending an even bigger part of the year than he is now talking about his dramatic role in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which he now feels confident did not leave him in the position of “be(ing) the one guy that screws up this $200 million movie.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic More than ever, rock stars were TV stars in 2023 — in the form of subjects for television documentaries — and so were their brethren in pop, hip-hop, K-pop and Latin music. Some of these TV films or docuseries were vanity projects used to promote new albums, of course; others started off as “making of” projects and ended up catching a star in a moment of real psychological crisis. It wasn’t all cinema verité; historical overviews capturing the full breadth of an artist’s career or even a genre still had their place in the pop-doc landscape. Four films or limited series stand out in the subgenre of docs that were initially commissioned to capture an album or tour and, through circumstances, evolved into something deeper or darker. “Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me” (Apple TV+) was going to be a tour documentary, but then, when an emotional breakdown caused her to pull off the road, it became a portrait of a singer coming to terms with mental illness.

When HBO hosted a special screening of Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, the intimate documentary about the singer-songwriter’s personal and creative journey during the making of his 2020 album Reunions, seemingly met with unanimous approval. But as applause and whistles rippled over the closing credits, one person sitting in the center of the theater was thinking, “I don’t think I want to watch it again for at least a decade.”

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic In 2002, director Sam Jones made what is widely considered a benchmark for 21st century music documentaries with “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco,” a movie that lucked into just about all the subject matter that could make B-roll footage of the making of an album into A-list material. It had conflict within the band, between an auteur and another member of great talent; conflict with the soon-to-be-ex-record label, over the basically unwanted classic-to-be “Yankee Foxtrot Hotel”); and said auteur doing his own demon-wrestling, outside foils notwithstanding. Now, it’s easier to see that Jones’ good fortune in happening upon all that wasn’t all luck. More than 20 years later, Jones has come up with another gold-standard music doc, in the form of “Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed,” newly streaming on HBO Max. This time, as the creation of another amazing record — Isbell’s “Reunions” (recorded in late 2019 and released a few months later) — is put under the filmic microscope, there are no record-company bookkeepers as unseen baddies in the backdrop to a making-of. Major labels and the conflicts that come with them are so 2002, right? But one common thread is intra-band tension… as it probably will be in most good rock docs now or 20 years from now. It gets more interesting than that, though. In this instance, the difficult vibes are between bandmates who double as a married couple — Isbell and his fiddler-spouse, Amanda Shires. Here, unlike the by-now iconic beefing between Jay Tweedy and Jay Bennett, we know no one’s ultimately going anywhere, right?

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic “Love Rising” is looking to combat the deeply risible. Nashville-based musicians are coming together in a big way — a Bridgestone Arena-sized way — tonight for the show of that name, a benefit concert to raise awareness and funds for the LGBTQ community and its allies in the face of Tennessee legislation that is seen as targeting the rights of gay and trans people generally and drag performers specifically. The generously star-packed show is also being livestreamed internationally via the Veeps platform, with $14.99 tickets available here for a show that begins at 7:30 Nashville time, aka 8:30 ET/5:30 PT. The wide-ranging bill of rock, country, pop, indie and Americana performers includes Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Sheryl Crow, Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne, Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, Yola, Brittany Howard, Hozier, Adeem the Artist, Julien Baker, Joy Oladokun, Jake Wesley Rogers and Mya Byrne, along with co-organizer Allison Russell. Late additions to the show since it was first announced include a greater contingent of non-binary and, yes, drag artists from Tennessee on top of the nationally known names.

Paramore's Hayley Williams, plus Julien Baker, Brittany Howard, and Maren Morris are among the first names confirmed for Nashville's Love Rising, a live music event organized in response to Tennessee's ban on drag performances on public property. Other names confirmed for Love Rising include Sheryl Crow, Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, Brothers Osborne, Yola, Allison Russell, and more. The event takes place on March 20 with proceeds going toward LGBTQIA+ programs, services, and resources across Tennessee.

Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Sheryl Crow, Jason Isbell and Brittany Howard are set to perform at an LGBTQ+ benefit concert in Tennessee.The show entitled Love Rising, which has been organised by Isbell and Alison Russell, will take place at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on March 20.Other acts on the bill include Hozier, Brothers Osborne, Amanda Shires, Julien Baker, Joy Oladokun, Yola, Jake Wesley Rogers, and Mya Byrne.Tickets for the show are on sale now and can be purchased here. You can view the full line-up below.The concert was set up in the wake of Tennessee passing Senate Bill 3 and House Bill 9, two pieces of legislation that ban drag performances from taking place on public property, as well as in any location where minors can be present.“As a queer, intersectional artist and mother, raising my child in Nashville, it’s important to me to support these wonderful Tennessee LGBTQIA+ advocacy organisations, working so hard to build bridges, reduce harm and promote equality for all Tennesseans,” Russell said in a statement via Consequence.“LGBTQIA+ contributions and creativity are foundational to every genre of modern song and arts performance.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Tennessee’s aggressive legislative moves against drag performances have prompted a host of pro-LGBTQ artists from different genres to come together for a March 20 benefit concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, dubbed “Love Rising,” that will raise funds for the Tennessee Equality Project and several other local pride organizations. Among those taking part in the Bridgestone show are Maren Morris and Brothers Osborne, two artists that have spoken up about LGBTQ issues in the often quiet mainstream country world. Others on the bill from the rock, pop, Americana and alternative realms include Paramore’s Haylee Williams, Sheryl Crow, Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, Allison Russell, Yola, Brittany Howard and Hozier. Julien Baker, Joy Oladokun, Jake Wesley Rogers, Mya Byrne and the Rainbow Coalition Band round out the packed lineup. Other special guests are expected to be added.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The good news for Taylor Swift fans: She is participating in Record Store Day again with a vinyl exclusive, for the second straight year. The bad news is that it’s in quantities of … Wait, that’s good news, too — there will be 115,000 copies available of “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions,” worldwide, about 10 times the amount that were pressed for her RSD 2022 single. Is that enough to meet demand, or keep legions of Swifties from queuing up before dawn along with the Record Store Day regulars on April 22? Not likely, but the volume of the pressing —more than four times as many as any RSD exclusive to date — should keep panic over procuring a copy to a lower level.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticThat pose that Amanda Shires strikes on the cover of “Take It Like a Man” — is it the look of allure, or alarm? Even after some time spent with the record therein, it still seems like it could be either. The singer-songwriter-violinist kicks off her seventh solo release with “Hawk for the Dove,” about as broodingly carnal a track as you’re going to hear this year.

APPOINTMENTSPPL PRS Ltd – the joint public performance licensing venture operated by UK collecting societies PPL and PRS – has appointed Helen Sachdev as its new Chair. She replaces Theresa Robson-Capps. “I feel very privileged to take on this role”, says Sachdev.

Sleater-Kinney have announced a full-length recreation of their 1997 album ‘Dig Me Out’, to be comprised entirely of covers by the likes of Courtney Barnett, St. Vincent, Wilco, The Linda Lindas, TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe, and many more.Though a concrete release date is yet to be announced, the band have confirmed it’ll land sometime in the summer.

Brandi Carlile is one of the most talented singer/songwriters to emerge onto the American music scene over the last decade. After getting the attention of critics and fans alike with her sophomore effort The Story in 2007, the 40-year-old Washington native would go on to strike gold with 2015’s The Firewatcher’s Daughter, receiving her first Grammy nomination. She tallied up six more nods for By the Way, I Forgive You in 2018 and another three for her work as a producer and writer on Tanya Tucker’s 2019 album While I’m Living. Brandi would bring home a total of six Grammys from the incredible recognition.

A post shared by Willie Nelson (@willienelsonofficial)“But we are so lucky to have had her in our lives. Please keep her family in your thoughts and give them the privacy they need at this time.”Bobbie was the pianist in the original line-up of the Willie Nelson Family band.She appeared on a number of his albums, including Red Headed Stranger and Shotgun Willie.She was also an author, writing two books with her brother, Me and My Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band in 2020 and Sister, Brother, Family: An American Childhood in Music, in 2021.A post shared by Willie Nelson (@willienelsonofficial)Bobbie was an artist in her own right and released her debut album, Autobiography, when she was 76.Bobbie and Willie performed their final gig in October after more than 50 years of playing together.The Willie Nelson Family band also released a new album, Family Bible, which promised: "12 favorite spirit-driven songs from the Nelson Family repertoire."Willie spoke fondly of his sister in an interview on the Today show in 2020.

By Chris Willman

On May 15, Jason Isbell celebrated the release of his latest album, Reunions, with his band the 400 Unit by christening the stage at the newly-built Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville alongside his wife musician Amanda Shires. The music venue and bowling alley was scheduled to make its grand opening in March, but remained shuttered after a tornado hit Music City and the spread of COVID-19 halted live shows around the globe.

The 63rd Grammy Awards will announce the nominations for the Jan. 31, 2021-slated show later this year, but Billboard already predicted who could score some major nods.