Amanda Shires | Live at Chicago Music Exchange | Full Session

Happy Holidays, Enjoy Amanda Shires - Live at Chicago Music Exchange
See the full 6 song session: goo.gl/hFDp1i
To The Sunset - Amanda Shires Shares Bold New Album, Remembers Jason Molina : goo.gl/hFDp1i
We’ve all seen the movies. The characters stand abreast, facing down an unending road. They turn to one another and exchange a meaningful look. One laughs and soon they all share a hard-earned laugh as music fades in and they walk off into the sunset, the life they knew coming to an end as the dialogue becomes almost inaudible and the sun’s light wanes, giving way to darkness and a new, uncertain beginning.
Amanda Shires’ sunset is different, and uncertainty has no place in it.
She recently joined us in our Lincoln Ave. studio to show us why her new album, To The Sunset, is not an ending or a beginning, but rather the next phase of a career in flux and a decisive step forward toward a bright and certain horizon.
Shires’ roots in country music and Americana run very deep. She picked up her first fiddle in a pawn shop in Texas at age 10. By 15 she was playing with the Texas Playboys, and later John Prine, Shovels & Rope, Justin Townes Earle, Billy Joe Shaver, and husband Jason Isbell.
To The Sunset shows an emboldened Shires looking to step out from behind her country roots and define her own sound, no longer strictly country, and ditch her image as a side-woman. It’s a gamble so successful that she ultimately sheds it or, perhaps more accurately, shreds it altogether.
The album begins in reverse, opening with “Parking Lot Pirouette.” Distorted bleeps and blips swell and pan. Then it hits. The bass is heavy. The drums are dry. There’s synth. The vibe is more barroom than barn dance and remains so throughout the record. Shires’ Dolly Parton-esque delivery is dipped in whiskey, doubled, delayed, overdriven and wreathed in reverb. Electric piano is very up in the mix and Shires has producer Dave Cobb make her violin “sound like it's in an aquarium, but more bright.”
The effect is emotional. The sound is swirling and swings from dark to light and back again, a wholly electrified thing that is unlike her previous work and closely akin to the alt-country of her husband’s 400 Unit and cult favorites Songs: Ohia, a similarity Shires makes all the more poignant by including one of their songs in her session with us.
“Just Be Simple” is a track from Songs: Ohia’s 2003 masterpiece, Magnolia Electric Company, recorded with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio right here in Chicago Illinois. Written by the late Jason Molina, the song is as subtle as it is affecting and complex, a hallmark of his work. It features a narrator thinking about the way back, wondering if, after a while, will it just disappear, and would it even matter if it does?
See the full 6 song session: goo.gl/hFDp1i
Engineered and Mixed by Alex Chadwick
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[@trigliderider]

I will say it again, Amanda is a treasure.

[@scottrussell2281]

I had the privilege of seeing her this past weekend at Shoals Fest in Jason's home town of Florence Alabama. I'd not yet had the pleasure of hearing her before, and I was blown away by her live version of Parking Lot Pirouette. In all the versions I see on KZbin she seems to hold back a lot of the passion and fury I saw this past Saturday. If you've never seen Amanda live, you simply can't imagine the powerhouse performance she gives to a live audience. I'm still stunned at how emotionally moving her performance of that song was. Absolutely beautiful.

[@coleysmisses]

One of the best voices & story teller I have heard, massive girl crush. Cannot believe this only has 357 likes, I am sharing with everyone I know.

[@jimwilkey7294]

Amanda the Angel. Such a sweet spirit!

[@ddbeattie]

This is pure MAGIC! She's such an amazing storyteller!

[@cg505able]

I'm happily surprised at how good she is and her voice is so unique. Way worth the listen.

[@christophersalinas5063]

Looking to your performance in Denver . Till then …✌🏽❤️😎

[@josephmanzi4691]

Amanda is wonderful to listen too. She's so expressive with her singing. The band is really good. Especially the piano and organ player. Can't wait to see her perform.

[@rodewhite100]

Just Be Simple floors me every time.

[@thetonemob]

Amanda and Co are fantastic and this performance is phenomenal.

[@basementstudiosparis6299]

this is simply quite wonderful

[@FrankJeeves]

Angelic voice

[@nywolf9798]

Beautiful song

[@nickautry7332]

Hey, Amanda. Love you n Jason ❤️. Can’t wait til next Ryman run. Also love photog Erika.

[@dmz140]

she sounds really good in this one!

[@alaricpollard3870]

WOW!!! Amazing performance, full of raw energy & emotion. I am so happy that I had the opportunity to watch, and that's what im gonna do now, is watch again.

[@FreedomToRoam86]

Ms Shires is always nice to listen too. But I was blown away by how good the pianist in the ball cap was on the Just Be Simple Again cover. Wish that guy was playing for our church!

[@susiewheeler8197]

LOVE this

[@salinasbeat]

❤❤

[@lisadewey511]

Stellar songs and performance!

[@chuckgmanleyphotos7197]

Another great performance, we are waiting for her return trip to Sacramento!

[@6000geac]

Very Unique and Beautiful, I’m really enjoying these songs. I hear some Mitchell Shocked in your vocals. I love your phrasing.

[@elizeuandrades-zj2yb]

Muito bom, espetacular!!!

[@meloman7073]

Восхитительно!

[@matthewreed2614]

please do a jason molina cover album

[@chicagomusicexchange]

SUBSCRIBE & TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS TO NEVER MISS A CME SESSION!

[@jpulizzano]

Couldnt place it at first BUT Amanda looks and sounds very similar to Nancy Griffith.

[@melflowers]

Great! Love Amanda. Can’t believe I’m just now discovering this. What mics are used for vocals and violin? They sound great.

[@quisutdeus911]

Hooo My sweet heart..Just for fall in love of you Amanda... DO NOT FORGET...LOVE!

[@FRIEDRICHJR]

😍

[@theloniouscoltrane3778]

2019 Hot Amanda. Jason, you lucky....d!

[@desdearibasiempre2545]

but is a lovely soang.

[@KieranSaighir]

For now, I'll refer to myself as an idiot because I can't find 'Break Out The Champagne' in this video yet. I realize it is a standalone on the CME site, but isn't it supposed to be included here too?

[@vittoriodizia3505]

Just love her voice and her sweet expression without the need to consider her, as you man often do, objectify talent as a " Babe", she's has true talent without the common chauvinistic miss interpretation, I wish I could Watch her in a live concert. Wonderful musicians.

[@M.B90]

There’s no chauvinism in appreciating beauty, it comes in many forms. In an expression, in a face, in the draw of a bow across strings, in a raspy voice cracked by emotion, and certainly in figure, appearance and mannerisms. To appreciate any one of these doesn’t have to detract from any of the others. Most women don’t need a white knight to save them from their own beauty. Just enjoy the wonder that is Amanda Shires. She gets better and better. That rendition of Just be Simple Again can break your heart.

[@desdearibasiempre2545]

it need more bass precens. a bit of volume to the bass.

[@SAGABIJO2]

The balance is not that good but it's not volume that you need, it's some frequencies from the other instruments that mud the bass. the music is great anyway.

[@DT-zs8to]

eves daughter

[@SAGABIJO2]

Reminds me a bit the vibe of Led Zeppelin on the acoustic stuff.

[@kiereluurs1243]

Hey, 5 string violin.

[@jamorains]

You just have to separate the art from the artist.

[@kiereluurs1243]

Haunting melodies, and she's cute too. But that CLICHE country voicing puts me off. She should be able to sing differently, more naturally. I wonder if she really has a deeper voice, instead of that made up GOATY one. No, just found out that's her natural pitch. Leaves the goat to be taken out of her throat.

[@ronaldjaybelin520]

Absolute beauty, can’t see the intellect