GRAMMY-winning, singer-songwriter/violinist Amanda Shires has released her triumphant new album Take It Like A Man. Written and recorded during lockdown, the new album is a fearless song cycle of ruthlessly candid tunes documenting Amanda’s life as a woman, a wife and mother during a tumultuous time.

Produced by Lawrence Rothman (Angel Olsen, Girl in Red, Kim Gordon), featuring Jason Isbell on guitar and guest vocals by Maren Morris and Brittney Spencer, the album is filled with revealing and autobiographical songs that crackle with pain, resentment, longing, anger, and ennui.

Searing with a renewed sense of creativity, and a bonded connectivity with Rothman, Shires gave birth to the new material through her own unique process. She explains, “My writing process is I take the journals that I have kept and go through with a highlighter and pick out words, partial lines, ideas, or themes. Sometimes just a metaphor or something my daughter has said or an observation. Then I copy all highlighted words onto an index card with a black Sharpie and I put the index cards in a box. Then I put the journals in the shredder, and I put the shredder in the compost, which goes to my tomatoes in the summer.” In less than a month Shires had written 26 songs deciphering what had been going through her mind, from 2018, where her To the Sunset album left off, to the present.

Highlights on the album include the “moody” and “anthemic” (BrooklynVegan) “Hawk For The Dove“, the “tender” (Consequence) “Empty Cups” featuring Maren Morris, the haunting title track “Take It Like A Man” which Stereogum called an “intense rumination,” and the seductive “Bad Behavior.” “Fault Lines” was the first song Shires wrote for the album, which The New York Times fittingly noted is “perhaps the most devastating song” on the album in a recent extensive Arts & Leisure profile on Shires.

Following notable shows this past week with The Highwomen in Chicago opening for Chris Stapleton, and a celebratory album release headline show at Nashville’s Blue Room, Shires will bring her dynamic live performances on the road for an extensive fall tour kicking off September 6th in Asheville, NC, with stops in major cities including Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Brooklyn, Dallas and more. See below for complete itinerary.

Since getting her start playing fiddle with the legendary Texas Playboys at the young age of 15, Amanda has brought her boundless originality to her solo albums, collaborated with the likes of John Prine and Justin Townes Earle and earned the 2017 Emerging Artist of the Year prize from the Americana Music Association (AMA). Amanda is a member of Jason Isbell’s 400 Unit and founded The Highwomen – a supergroup she also performs in alongside Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby, and Brandi Carlile. The band hit #1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart with their self-titled 2019 debut. A fierce activist, Amanda has eloquently spoken to Rolling Stone and Yahoo! Life recently regarding the importance of women’s reproductive rights.

AMANDA SHIRES FALL U.S. TOUR

Tuesday, September 6, 2022 Asheville, NC Grey Eagle

Wednesday, September 7, 2022 Athens, GA Georgia Theatre

Friday, September 9, 2022 Washington, DC 9:30 Club

Saturday, September 10, 2022 Charlottesville, VA Jefferson Theatre

Sunday, September 11, 2022 Knoxville, TN Bijou

Tuesday, September 13, 2022 Charlotte, NC Neighborhood Theatre

Wednesday, September 14, 2022 Philadelphia, PA World Café Live

Friday, September 16, 2022 Providence, RI Fete Ballroom

Saturday, September 17, 2022 Fredericton, NB Harvest Jazz & Blues Fest

Monday, September 19, 2022 Homer, NY Center for the Arts

Wednesday, September 21, 2022 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle

Thursday, September 22, 2022 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse

Friday, September 23, 2022 Charleston, SC Music Farm

Saturday, September 24, 2022 Chattanooga, TN Songbirds

Sunday, October 2, 2022 Florence, AL Shoals Fest

Thursday, October 6, 2022 Denver, CO Bluebird Theatre

Friday, October 7, 2022 Salt Lake City, UT Commonwealth Room

Sunday, October 9, 2022 Pioneertown, CA Pappy & Harriets

Monday, October 10, 2022 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour

Tuesday, October 11, 2022 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up

Wednesday, October 12, 2022 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall

Saturday, October 15, 2022 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios

Sunday, October 16, 2022 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern

Friday, October 21, 2022 Nashville, TN Ryman

Saturday, October 22, 2022 Grand Rapids, MI Pyramid Scheme

Monday, October 24, 2022 Toronto, ON Horseshoe

Wednesday, October 26, 2022 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg

Thursday, October 27, 2022 Columbus, OH A&R Music Bar

Friday, October 28, 2022 Indianapolis, IN Hi-Fi

Saturday, October 29, 2022 Birmingham, AL Moonstone Festival

Thursday, November 3, 2022 Louisville, KY Headliners

Friday, November 4, 2022 Ann Arbor, MI The Ark

Saturday, November 5, 2022 Evanston, IL SPACE

Monday, November 7, 2022 St. Paul, MN Amsterdam

Tuesday, November 8, 2022 Kansas City, MO Madrid Theatre

Wednesday, November 9, 2022 Oklahoma City, OK Beer City Gardens

Friday, November 11, 2022 Dallas, TX The Kessler

Saturday, November 12, 2022 Houston, TX Heights Theater

Sunday, November 13, 2022 Austin, TX Antone’s

Tuesday, November 15, 2022 Little Rock, AR Rev! Room

Wednesday, November 16, 2022 St Louis, MO Old Rock House

Friday, November 18, 2022 Madison, WI Majestic Theatre

Saturday, November 19, 2022 Des Moines, IA Woolys

Sunday, November 20, 2022 Omaha, NE Barnato

The Murlocs brand new studio album, Rapscallion, is out September 16. Strapped with fuzzy guitar licks, feverish bass and psychedelic brightness, the 12-track collection is a coming-of-age novel in an album form. The wildly squalid odyssey populated by an outrageous cast of misfit characters — teenage vagabonds and small-time criminals, junkyard dwellers and truck-stop transients — is partly inspired by frontman Ambrose Kenny-Smith’s own adolescence as a nomadic skate kid. Their most magnificently heavy work yet, the result is an endlessly enthralling album equally steeped in danger and delirium and the wide-eyed romanticism of youth.

Following the nameless hero through an ill-fated adventure as a train stow-away, a turn of events leads listeners to lead single “Virgin Criminal” and its frenetically giddy, fuzzed-out account of his initiation into a crew of young bandits. “It’s about him doing his first crime, ripping off a convenience store, and getting off on the thrill of being an outlaw,” says Kenny-Smith. Watch the video here.

Self-produced by the band in the early stages of the pandemic, Rapscallion was recorded remotely in the home studios of Kenny-Smith (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Callum Shortal (guitar), Matt Blach (drums), Cook Craig (bass), and Tim Karmouche (keys). A truly dynamic musical collective, all five members also perform in other bands: Kenny-Smith and Craig each play in the globally beloved King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Shortal plays guitar in ORB, and Karmouche and Blach are frontmen for Crepes and Beans, respectively.

In a departure from the effusive garage-rock of 2021’s Bittersweet Demons, the album’s musical DNA contains strains of stoner-metal and the more primitive edge of post-punk. Despite that darker and more formidable sound, The Murlocs instill every track with the freewheeling energy they’ve brought to the stage while supporting such acts as Pixies, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees. The band is thrilled to announce an extensive North American tour kicking off at LEVITATION in Austin, TX and making stops in NYC, Philadelphia, Seattle, LA, Chicago and more. Tickets go on-sale July 15 @ 9amPT/12pmET.

North American Tour Dates

10/29: Austin, TX @ LEVITATION ^

Stubb’s Outdoor – Waller Creek Amphitheater

10/31: Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion #

11/2: Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre #

11/7: Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts *

11/9: New York, NY @ Webster Hall *

11/10: Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair *

11/11: Montreal, QC – Fairmount Theatre *

11/12: Toronto, ON @ The Axis Club *

11/14: Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom *

11/15: Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *

11/16: St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club *

11/17: Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge *

11/18: Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater *

11/20: Boise, ID @ Neurolux *

11/22: Seattle, WA @ Neumos *

11/23: Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre *

11/25: Portland, OR @ Star Theater *

11/27: San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall *

11/28: Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s *

11/29: Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s *

12/2: Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom *

^ w/ King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

# w/ King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Leah Senior

* w/ Grace Cummings

The landmark debut solo album, expanded to two LP’s with 12 previously unreleased tracks, housed in a deluxe rainbow foil jacket
Out July 29, Shipping July 25. Pre-order album HERE.

Drive-By Truckers release their 14^th studio album, Welcome 2 Club XIII, available everywhere now via ATO Records on limited edition vinyl, CD, and all digital formats.

Welcome 2 Club XIII includes such recently released singles as “The Driver,” “Every Single Storied Flameout,”  and the album’s swinging centerpiece, “Welcome 2 Club XIII,” all available now at all DSPs and streaming services; the latter track – which pays homage to the Muscle Shoals honky-tonk where founding members Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley got their start – is joined by an official music video streaming now via YouTube.

Drive-By Truckers are currently celebrating Welcome 2 Club XIII with a marathon live schedule, including top-billed festival dates, and North American, European, and UK headline tours.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS TOUR 2022

JUNE

3 – Antwerp, Belgium – De Roma †

5 – Raalte, Netherlands – Ribs & Blues *

6 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso †

7 – Brighton, UK – Chalk †

8 – London, UK – O2 Forum †

9 – Leeds, UK – Leeds University Stylus †

11 – Dublin, Ireland – Vicar Street †

12 – Glasgow, UK – SWG3 TV Studio †

14 – Tilburg, Netherlands – 013 (Jupiler Zaal) †

15 – Paris, France – La Maroquinerie †

17 – Mendizabala, Vitoria-Gasteiz – Azkena Rock Festival *

19 – Eridge Park, UK – Black Deer Festival *

JULY

14 – Breckenridge, CO – Riverwalk Center

15 – Denver, CO – Levitt Pavilion

16 – Kansas City, MO – Knuckleheads

19 – Omaha, NE – Falconwood Park

20 – Minneapolis, MN – Utepils Brewing

22 – Des Moines, IA – Hoyt Sherman Place

23 – Dayton, OH – Dayton Masonic Center

24 – Kalamazoo, MI – Bell’s Beer Garden

27 – Fort Wayne, IN – The Clyde Theatre

29 -St. Louis, MO – Open Highway Music Festival *

30 – Maryville, TN – The Shed

31 – Wilmington, NC – Greenfield Lake Amphitheater

AUGUST

2 – Virginia Beach, VA – Elevation 27

4 – Deerfield, MA – Tree House Brewing Company

5 – Buffalo, NY – Town Ballroom

8 – Patchogue, NY – Patchogue Theatre

10 – Isle of Palms, SC – The Windjammer

11 – Isle of Palms, SC – The Windjammer

12 – Charlotte, NC – Neighborhood Theatre

13 – Pelham, TN – The Caverns

20 – Redmond, WA – CHOMP! (Free Show) *

SEPTEMBER

10 – Jasper, AL – Foothills Festival (Free Show) *

17 -Louisville, KY -Bourbon & Beyond *

Tickets Available Here

* Festival Appearance

† w/Special Guest Jerry Joseph

The Heavy Heavy is led by Will Turner and Georgie Fuller, the Brighton, UK-based band warps time and place through an unfettered collision of rock n roll, psychedelic blues, acid rock and sunshine pop. Across their debut Life and Life Only EP, the group breathes incandescent new energy into sounds from decades ago, transcending eras with euphoric ease as they tap into musical touchstones that range from folk-blues duo Delaney & Bonnie, Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac and British Invasion acts like The Hollies, to a sonic alchemy all their own. Full of effusive harmonies and fuzzed-out guitar on tracks like the whirlwind road trip of “Miles and Miles,” the near-operatic epic of “Sleeping on Grassy Ground,” the rapturous opening of “All My Dreams,” and “Go Down River,” the first song they ever recorded together, Life and Life Only pulls listeners into a sublime fugue state, leaving one newly awakened to infinite possibilities.

An expanded Life and Life Only is now available on all digital platforms, including remastered versions of the EP’s original five songs, plus the previously unreleased “Why Don’t You Call?,” a single edit of “Miles and Miles,” unseen artwork and more.

Listen to Life and Life Only, and pre-order the EP’s first-ever vinyl release, available worldwide on July 22nd:https://atorecords-ffm.com/thh_life 

Recently extended into a five-piece lineup with an even more vast, harmony-laden sound, The Heavy Heavy will head to the United States for the very first time in September. A stint at Nashville’s AmericanaFest will be followed by shows with Black Pumas, St. Paul and The Broken Bones, and The Record Company, plus headline dates at New York City’s Mercury Lounge on Sept 28th and Los Angeles’ Troubadour on Oct 24th. Find tickets here, and stay tuned for a major fall tour to be announced this month.

The Heavy Heavy Tour Dates

9/14-9/17 – Nashville, TN – AmericanaFest

9/22 – Knoxville, TN – Tennessee Theatre^

9/23 – Chattanooga, TN – The Signal^

9/28 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge

10/1 – Arnoldsville, GA – Wildwood Revival

10/2 – Raleigh, NC – Band Together Benefit Concert – w/ Black Pumas & The Record Company

10/9 – Columbia, MO – Roots N Blues BBQ Festival

10/24 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour

^w/ St. Paul and The Broken Bones

More TBA Soon