Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit @ Red Rocks

Red Rocks was surely rocking with Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit on May 3, 2024 in Morrison, CO. But first was Amanda Shires, delivering an excellent set.

Amanda Shires

Since getting her start playing fiddle with the legendary Texas Playboys at the young age of 15, the West Texas native has brought her nuanced songwriting and boundless originality to a series of critically acclaimed solo albums, collaborated with the likes of John Prine and Justin Townes Earle, toured with such acts as Todd Snider, and earned the 2017 Emerging Artist of the Year prize from the Americana Music Association (AMA). In addition to being a member of Jason Isbell’s 400 Unit, Amanda is the founder of The Highwomen – a supergroup she performs in along with Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby, and Brandi Carlile. The band hit #1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart with their self-titled 2019 debut. Shires approaches every undertaking with equal parts precision of craft and unbridled humanity.

Along with scoring a Billboard 200 top 10 hit with The 400 Unit’s Reunions (a 2020 release that graced over a dozen best-of-the-year lists), Shires also made waves with her standalone single “The Problem,” a powerfully empathetic song about a woman’s right to choose. With her latest output including the free-spirited yet emotionally raw holiday album For Christmas, she continues to create the kind of unsparingly honest music that ultimately gives rise to connection and compassion. Her new album, Take It Like A Man, dropped July 29, 2022.

pulled from Spotify

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit is a band led by former Drive-By Truckers singer and guitarist Jason Isbell. It includes guitarist Sadler Vaden, bassist Jimbo Hart, keyboardist Derry DeBorja, drummer Chad Gamble, and Amanda Shires on fiddle and frequent harmony vocals.

The 400 Unit is named after the psychiatric ward at Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence, Alabama.

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