Today we have a special Broken Record Holiday episode with Nashville singer Amanda Shires. Shires’ new holiday album, For Christmas, isn’t meant to make you feel merry and bright. Instead it’s an acknowledgment of the complicated feelings that can come along with the holidays, like disappointment, longing and maybe a little bit of lust.

In addition to her solo career, Amanda Shires plays fiddle and sings in her husband Jason Isbell’s band, The 400 Unit. She is also a founding member of the female country supergroup, The Highwomen, with Brandi Carlile. But way before she hit it big in Nashville, Shires played fiddle with the Texas Playboys, the legendary Western swing band started by Bob Will’s that she joined when she was just 12 years-old.

On today’s episode Bruce Headlam talks to Amanda Shires about what inspired her to write a non-traditional Christmas album. Shires also explains how finding out that her Grandfather served decades in Alcatraz raised a ton of questions about her family’s history. And she recalls what happened the time she discovered her husband had ripped off one of her lyrics. 

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Check out our favorite Amanda Shires songs HERE.

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