Amanda Shires Makes Herself at Home at the Ryman

One of the many joys of seeing a show at the Ryman is witnessing the unmitigated love and reverence even the most seasoned artists have for the place. It seems no amount of road miles can diminish one’s awe for the Mother Church. That fact was evident to The Spin on Sunday night when we stopped in for the penultimate show in the Americana at the Ryman series, which featured Amanda Shires and Caitlin Rose. 

For Rose, a veteran of the local scene who we haven’t seen play out in too long, the power of the venue seemed to strike mid-set. “I haven’t played a show in two years, and my first one is at the Ryman — that’s casual,” she quipped. 

Shires has scuffed up the former Grand Ole Opry stage numerous times as a band member or a support act, but Sunday night was her first time headlining. Far from intimidated, though, she playfully highlighted the surreal feeling that must come with playing on such hallowed ground. “That’s what everyone does,” Shires said after walking onstage and realizing she’d left her fiddle in the dressing room. “Roy Acuff did that.” 

We bought a cup of coffee — look, we’re not as young as we used to be — and settled into our pew in the balcony right as Rose was starting her opening set. Longtime Nashvillians will be familiar with Rose as a local favorite made good whose honky-tonk-meets-Fleetwood Mac rock came years ahead of a time when trad-schooled country artists would launch hit records out of Jack White’s Third Man Records. Still, her eight-song opening set left us with one question. Why isn’t Caitlin Rose more famous? 

It ain’t the songs, that’s for damned sure. Rose and band — including Steelism co-founder and Miranda Lambert steelist Spencer Cullum Jr. — breezed through tunes from 2010’s Own Side Now (“For the Rabbits” and “Shanghai Cigarettes”) and 2013’s The Stand-In (“When I’m Gone” and “Only a Clown”). In between those, she introduced a couple new songs and a fun cover of “If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody.” It was great, and we insist that Rose release new music as soon as possible. 

After a brief intermission and introduction from a radio announcer — the Americana at the Ryman shows are streamed on WSM’s online Americana station Route 650, which gave the night a little bit of an Opry feel — Shires took the stage, announcing the aforementioned forgotten fiddle. 

Shires has made some changes and additions to her backing band since the last time we saw her. Joining Jerry Pentecost (drums) and Zach Setchfield (guitar) onstage Sunday night were Seth Plemmons (guitar), Macey Taylor (bass) and Peter Levin, a renowned keyboardist who played with Gregg Allman. The result was a fuller sound suitable for the fresh songs coming from her genre-bending new record To the Sunset . Far from resting on the success of 2016’s My Piece of Land — a great album but not one that really stretched the definition of this thing called Americana — To the Sunset proves to any doubters that Shires is making art, not content. The record sees her going in a new direction musically without leaving behind her gift with the pen or her grounding as a songwriter. 

She kicked off Sunday night’s set with “Break Out the Champagne,” a rollicking toast to near-death experiences that should be in regular rotation on your favorite radio station, and kept up the pace with “When You’re Gone,” a highlight from My Piece of Land. From there, Shires & Co. filled out their 17-song main set with tunes from those two records and a few fan favorites from further back in her catalog. Among the latter group — which included “Bulletproof” and the rip-roaring set closer “Look Like a Bird” — was “Swimmer,” a tune from 2011’s Carrying Lightning that Shires refurbished for To the Sunset. It’s a testament to how great the foundations of Shires’ songs are (and to the care with which she made her latest record) that “Swimmer” was reworked to fit perfectly among the new songs. 

Midway through the main set, Shires invited husband “Jason Isbell-Shires” out to the stage to join the band for “Pale Fire,” which the couple co-wrote, along with “Wasted and Rollin’.” After unleashing a little Richard Thompson-esque shredding on his Strat, Isbell left, but returned to contribute to the set-closing jam session on “Bird.” 

That fiddle did eventually make it to the stage too, although by the time Shires was done with it one wondered if it’d make it back off. To use a term of art amongst fiddle players, she tore that shit up, marshaling the instrument for blistering solos and fierce accents throughout the set. 

One moment in particular highlighted the how the Ryman can seem a towering temple of country music and an intimate living room all at once. Noting that she thought her mother — recently transplanted to Nashville from Texas — was in attendance, Shires tried to shield her eyes from the stage lights and search the crowd. Her mom, sitting in the balcony and undoubtedly brimming with pride, eventually stood up and said “I’m here, Amanda.” Amid the confusion, Isbell stepped to the mic and said, “She’s the one up there in the Amanda Shires T-shirt.” 

After the main set, the crowd demanded an encore with fervent drumming on the pews. Shires and Levin returned for a heartrending spin on the late Jason Molina’s “Just Be Simple,” and the rest of the band joined them for an appropriately snarling jam on The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” Shires has played the Ryman numerous times in one way or another. But Sunday night at country music’s most legendary venue, she made herself and a sizable crowd (not sold-out, likely in some measure down to being at the same time as the Lucinda Williams-Steve Earle-Dwight Yoakam triple bill at Ascend Amphitheater) at home. We’ll certainly be back just as soon as we’re invited.

See our slideshow for more photos.

In The Spin — the Scene's live review column — staffers and freelance contributors review concerts under a collective byline.