Amanda Shires
For the Sake of the Song
Reviewed by Jim Caligiuri, Fri., Nov. 25, 2011
Amanda Shires
Carrying LightningA Lubbock native some may remember from the Thrift Store Cowboys, Amanda Shires has delivered a second disc that finds her balancing dusky overtones with occasional buoyancy. In the process, the fiddler and singer-songwriter lands somewhere between the perkiness of Dolly Parton, whom she resembles vocally on occasion, and the disquieting poetry of Richard Buckner. Consider the haunting and dynamic "When You Need a Train It Never Comes" a late candidate for song of the year.