24. September 2025
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Media Review

Amanda Shires – Nobody’s Girl

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Amanda Shires - Nobody's Girl

Amanda Shires - Nobody's Girl
4.9

Rating

 4.9/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Lovely storytelling and songwriting
  • Versatile range of songs

Nine solo albums, six albums as part of Jason Isbell’s band The 400 Unit, part of The Highwaywomen and Grammy Award Winner – Amanda Shires really did it in the music business. On 26th September 2025, she is releasing her tenth solo album overall, Nobody’s Girl. Here is my review.

 

Amanda Shires – About The Artist

Amanda Shires is an US-American singer-songwriter and fiddle player. The Texas artist, who was born in Lubbock on 5th March 1982, is majorly doing Americana genres, including folk and alternative country. By joining the Texas Playboys, the backing band of Western swing legend Bob Willis, she turned into a professional musician at the age of 15. Her solo career started with the debut album Being Brave in 2005. Overall, she has released nine albums so far. I reviewed the last two ones, the seasonal album For Christmas (2021) and Take it Like a Man (2022). As part of Jason Isbell’s band, she won the Grammy Award for the Best Americana Album with The Nashville Sound in 2018.

 

Amanda Shires – Nobody’s Girl – Track by Track

The thirteen song album lasts 51 minutes.

1. Intro – Invocation

The first 77 seconds are an instrumental intro, majorly driven by the piano and some string elements.

2. A Way It Goes

After the intro, the album flows directly into A Way It Goes. The song continues with the gentle flow of the intro. However, the sound is rather defined by slow drums and some guitar and string elements. The single release does spread some Americana vibes. Overall, a very personal, harmonic sound, which has some slightly more rocking and dramatic elements towards the end.

3. Maybe I

Maybe I try is the key phrase of this country-alike ballad. Amanda’s high voice additionally creates a fine, even a bit of fragile atmosphere. This leads to a very intimate atmosphere. In later parts, the song also gains more energy. The howling steel guitar feels very intense in this third song.

4. The Details

The calm style of songs continues with The Details. This time, the piano is the driving instrument of the song, which melodically feels like a ballad. The song does have a very deep atmosphere. Especially the cello parts create a rather melancholic mood. Overall, you simply have to listen to Amanda Shires and her song. It’s lovely songwriting, indeed.

5. Living

With 3:29 minutes, Living is one of the shorter songs of the album. The song is comparably melodic and playful, but still maintains this intense atmosphere, which already felt fascinating on the songs before. An absolutely lovely listen.

6. Lose It For A While

Lose It For A While crashes the duration of five minutes. The song works a lot with distortion and other electronic effects. This leads to a very unique, intense feeling and plot in the context of Nobody’s Girl. By that, the song is showing a very nice, different style of Amanda Shires’ music.

7. Piece of Mind

Three of the songs of the record have been released beforehand. Piece of Mind is one of them. The track is significantly more rocking than the songs before and even comes with some rougher guitar riffs. So far, it is not a characteristic track of Nobody’s Girl, but a really catching listen.

8. Streetlights and Stars

The press kit to the album comes with some very personal notes to selected songs. About Streetlights and Stars, Shires states. Heartbreak isn’t just one feeling, it’s a storm that keeps changing. Some days it’s an empty house that stays too clean. Some nights feel like Streetlights and Stars, standing alone on a frozen
sidewalk, watching old feelings surface like breath in the cold. Other days, it’s nothing at all, just silence where there used to be noise. Time doesn’t heal everything, but it does rearrange the pieces. How could I describe this song in a better way? Her words simply underline the beauty of her storytelling in this emotional track.

9. Lately

How’m I doing? I don’t know
Just here listening to Billy Joel
The Stranger album, trying to change my mood
Fight the blues with more blues

The last song of the record, which has been shared beforehand, is Lately. Again, the US-American artist impresses with a lovely storytelling. You feel her emotions, her struggle, her pain. And you enjoy another beautiful song.

10. Friend Zone

Regarding the tenth song Friend Zone, it is absolutely worth to have another look into the press kit of the album. Friend Zone might seem like the outlier, but it belongs here just as much as the heartbreak songs. It’s about recognizing when something isn’t yours to hold onto even if it stings. It’s about the absurdity of misreading a moment, of watching Tombstone with someone who will never see you the way you see them. Shires even masters this very special track and creators another calm song with a jazzy touch. A song about the injustice, the humor, the jellybeans, as she states.

11. Strange Dreams

After singing about jellybeans, Amanda Shires continues with Strange Dreams. The song is fast, rhythmic and thus a clear contrast to the track before. The four minute song is a lovely blending of Americana and pop elements. This variety in the song keeps the fascination about Nobody’s Girl alive easily.

12. Can’t Hold Your Breath

You don’t survive by denying reality. You survive by facing it, Amanda states about the topic of the penultimate song of the album. The song is an intense, thoughtful one, in which her high voice also sends some darker and harsher message. Like you can’t hold your breath for the rest of your life, as she sings in the chorus.

13. Not Feeling Anything

Apart from the intro track, Not Feeling Anything is in fact the shortest song of the album. The song starts quiet, but takes up some energy while it is closing. Again, there is a lot of beauty in the melodies by Amanda Shires.

 

Amanda Shires – Nobody’s Girl – Spotify

I will add the Spotify widget once the album has been published.

 

Amanda Shires – Nobody’s Girl – My View

The hardest choice about my review of Nobody’s Girl is picking my favorite song. The album comes with great stories, intense listens and a lovely presentation. The twelve full length songs don’t get boring at all. Amanda Shires fascinates with one song, while you still reflect the previous one and look forward to the next one. There will be a lot of new things you explore when you listen to it the second, the third, or the fourth time. I really love it.

Favorite Song: Friend Zone

 

2025 Women Country Music Top Pick!s

Here are all my 2025-published Media Reviews of female country artists’ releases leading to a Top Pick! rating:

 

All “classic” blog posts

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