Nashville-based singer, songwriter and violin player Amanda Shires will release her new album Down Fell The Doves on August 6 via Lightning Rod Records. The new project was produced by Andy Lemaster (Bright Eyes, REM) and features support from Shires husband Jason Isbell on guitar. From the press release: Shires landed everywhere from NPR’s Tiny Desk to the Grand Ole Opry to the cover of Texas Music as their Artist Of The Year in 2011. Down Fell The Doves’ 11 original songs feature Amanda’s sharpest writing to date, brought to life by a voice that melts, a fiddle that sears, and guitars that scrape and howl. Shires has blossomed into a truly original voice with ‘Doves,’ which was recorded at Lemasters Chase Park Transduction studio in Athens, GA. “Bulletproof” ponders invincibility with the help of a Siberian tiger claw. “Wasted and Rollin’” casts a deep, impressionistic fog. For “Deep Dark Below” Shires’ attention shifts to the underworld, where the devil plays fiddle with a bow made of bones. “Song for Leonard Cohen” has a softer touch, imagining a drunken evening stroll with the master songwriter. Now based in Nashville, Shires began playing fiddle at age ten in Texas. By 15, she had joined the Texas Playboys, former backing band of western swing pioneer Bob Wills. More recently she has toured and recorded with Shovels & Rope, Snider and Justin Townes Earle who says, “With a voice that whispers Dolly and lyrics that scream Faulkner, this girl shines like a diamond.”