Amanda Shires has perhaps been best known for her work with others, having performed & recorded with the likes of Chris Isaak, DeVotchKa, Justin Townes Earle and more (not to mention being married to Jason Isbell) – she was even one of the musicians backing Gywneth Paltrow in Country Strong. But her accomplished solo side comes through on the touching My Piece of Land.
Like much country-folk, Land shifts between the upbeat & catchy and the downbeat & sad, but Shires particularly manages to stretch between the two. “The Way It Dimmed” opens the record with a catchy ditty, and there’s active country pop-rock in “When You’re Gone”. Meanwhile, after “Gone” the album ends with intimacy in the stripped “Mineral Wells”, then slow twang-loss “I Know What It’s Like” and “You Are My Home”.
Sweetness, whether up or down, pervades Shires’ My Piece of Land.
