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Amanda Shires may have started her career as the fiddler for Lubbock, Tex.-based Americana band the Thrift Store Cowboys; but, ever since she lurched out on her own, to make it in Nashville, she's been her own creative force. Armed with a fiddle and ukulele, Shires has created some of the most haunting murder ballads and intensely raw singer-songwriter tunes available on the scene these days.


Her first two solo albums were beautiful, haunting, raw occasions, dripping with heartbreak and earnest emotions, focused heavily on stripped-down production and her lyrical arrangements. Down Fell the Doves is more lush, and comes off as a more full-realized sound.

James Joyce Meets Annie Lennox

Always the poet, Shires has tended to make music that sounds like Neko Case and Annie Lennox got together for a writing party with James Joyce and Edgar Allen Poe. It's no mistake that her some of closest lyrical comparisons lie on the page, too, instead of the annals of modern music. Shires has been studying poetry and creative writing these past few years, carrying the habits of the masters over into her contemporary folk songwriting.

Even though this record is wretching with electric guitars and distorted effects, it feels not too far flung from the traditions of old English and Irish folk, with all their dark chords and distant, complicated harmonies. "Wasted and Rollin'" is a good examples, with its easy, accessible refrain and sing-song, dark, poetic verses.

Though the instrumentation alone could be pasted to a folk-rock indie band's radio hit, the basic foundation of the song rolls out like old Irish balladry. It's followed by "If I" - a uke-and-guitar tome about hesitating to fall in love, ending with the line "Do you really want me to come clean?"

Other great highlights include the beautiful "Drop and Lift" about the intersection between falling and flying, and all the glorious metaphors inherent therein. Backing her up there, as well as on much of the rest of the disc, are vocals and guitar from her wickedly talented husband Jason Isbell. In interviews about the disc, Shires has noted that this album was the fruit of a songwriting challenge she and Isbell gave each other, so it's fitting to feel his presence on the disc. Needless to say, their voices and instrumental instincts blend beautifully, with his warm foundation behind her occasionally lilting, strongly hesitant alto.

An Artist to Watch

Shires has a unique and haunting voice that careens intuitively around her curious and provocative poetry. When she starts wondering about what it would be like to be bulletproof (in a song titled, aptly, "Bulletproof"), there's an inclination to giggle, but the length to which she takes her imagination starts to feel so clever and comical it's almost uncomfortable. There aren't a lot of contemporary singers who draw unwitting audiences to the edge of discomfort these days, then back to the warm, dry place from whence they began. For that alone, Shires' talent should not be ignored.

Amanda Shires has been slowly rising through the contemporary folk and Americana scenes the past few years, since her 2005 debut, but Down Fell the Doves could be a bit of a breakthrough for her. Her performance of these songs at this year's Newport Folk Festival, during the Nashville to Newport event, were among the highlights of the weekend. And, the rusty, rock vibe that threads in and out through this album make it a little more sonically accessible to a casual listener, regardless of whether or not they're a hard-core folk or Americana music fan. She has also grown noticeably from album to album, showing a clear creative arc which only seems to be improving with every burst of energy.

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