Amanda Shires’ new album, “Nobody’s Girl,” fits into a tradition of great heartache albums.

Heartbreak is a topic Shires knew she would have to address, as she was once one half of a relatively high-profile couple on the Americana music scene.

Two years after a crushing breakup, singer-songwriter Amanda Shires is sitting in an empty hotel bar, her arms shaking as she reads a page from her notebook. She’s been stumbling, she says, in interviews, struggling to explain how she transformed one of the deepest pains of her life into art.

The work in question, “Nobody’s Girl,” fits into a tradition of great heartache albums. And yet it deviates from it. Brazenly honest, pointedly detailed and possessing the sort of vulnerability that feels like an outstretched hand to the listener, Shires’ exp

See Full Page