The marriage of Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires appears to have reached a low point. With divorce papers filed just before their 11th wedding anniversary, it appears that this musical power couple is singing a different tune.
According to the documents, the couple separated on December 3 and cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split.
Isbell and Shires, who have an 8-year-old daughter named Mercy, have been a musical force since they married in February 2013. Shires plays fiddle and sings backup for Isbell’s band, the 400 Unit, and he plays guitar for her country supergroup, The Highwomen.
The couple’s marital issues were even documented in the 2023 documentary Running With Our Eyes Closed, which featured an emotional scene in which Shires read an email she sent Isbell about the possibility of marriage counseling.
Isbell, who has been sober since 2012, previously spoke with The New York Times in 2020 about how growing pressures while filming reunions caused him to push everyone in his life away, including his wife.
Jason Isbell has filed for divorce from Amanda Shires after nearly 11 years of marriage
More: https://t.co/HBaoTzYJ6Xhttps://t.co/HBaoTzYJ6X
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) February 8, 2024“I once said, ‘It would be easier if someone cheated.'” Then we could say, ‘You did this,’ or ‘I did this,’ and ‘Somebody needs to be sorry,’ Isbell said. “But it was more like, ‘We don’t know each other right now. We’re not able to speak the same language.’
Shires checked into a hotel for ten days in 2020 because “lines were being crossed” and she “needed space,” but the two eventually reconciled.
She covered their marital turbulence from her perspective on the 2022 song “Fault Lines,” telling Nashville Scene that she and Isbell were going through a difficult “disconnect” during the pandemic, which she expressed in her lyrics.
“All of us have had turmoil in our respective marriages, and it was undoubtedly coming from a place of vulnerability,” Shires told the publication. “That is how I chose the songs for the album. You have the choice to be vulnerable or not. It is up to you to manage yourself.”
As this chapter of their duet concludes, one thing is clear: even the most beautiful melodies can falter in the face of life’s discordant symphony.
Here’s hoping Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires find solace in their verses and continue to create masterpieces, whether together or apart.
ncG1vNJzZmiolZq9tMPIs2Wcp51ktbC4y7KuqKeUZLeiv86nZKKrkpq5rXnFoqOeq12bvLN5w6KtqKqTmnqnvs6mZJqlkaOxonnSoaCrnaNirqfAxKtkp52Rp7m6eZBqZLKdkafAbrvFZqSaqqKerqixjg%3D%3D