Amanda Shires opening for John Prine at Tivoli Theatre

Amanda Shires will open for John Prine on Friday, June 24, at the Tivoli Theatre.

Sometimes fans will come up to Amanda Shires and thank her for saving her now-husband Jason Isbell, considered by many to be among the best songwriters working today, from his alcohol addiction. It happens often enough that she is no longer surprised by it, but the sentiment does seem somewhat odd to her.

"Every once in awhile people will say that, but it wasn't me," she says. "He saved himself. Every decision he makes is his decision to make. He saved himself."

Shires, a singer/songwriter herself, will open for John Prine, another legendary singer/songwriter, Friday night, June 24, at the Tivoli Theatre.

"John Prine is exactly the same person offstage as he is onstage," she says. "I love playing with him."

While she takes little personal credit for Isbell's sobriety, he has often publicly said she saved his life and gives him a reason to stay straight. She says she did what most decent human beings would do for anyone who asks for help, but she also says it was not easy.

"He was lucky to have the right people around him, but I feel like I would help any of my friends, but I'm also not a person to get run over. It's not hard to help someone when they ask for help, so I do feel odd that someone would thank me."

The suggestion that maybe it's because people care so deeply about Isbell and his music catches her a little off-guard.

"I haven't looked at it that way," she says, going quiet. "I'll have to think about that some more."

She's also thrown a little when asked what it's like to have a love song written for her. Many people in love have a song they consider their own, or even songs that mean a great deal to them, but few have a song written just for them, especially one as deeply personal as Isbell's "Cover Me Up," mixing repentance and white-hot passion.

"I've never been asked that before. How powerful is it to have a song written for you?" she repeats. "It is odd because it's something that everybody knows about. For most people, it doesn't go any further than their own home.

"But it is very brave on his part, but um, um I'm thinking you just told everybody our secrets. It is strange, but so sweet."

Shires and Isbell performed together and separately two weeks ago at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. She plays fiddle and sings with a sultry voice that sounds a little like Dolly Parton and Cary Ann Hearst of Shovels and Rope. She did a beautiful set on the New Music on Tap Lounge on the second day of the festival in front of 100 or so people, then joined her husband on the main What Stage on Sunday evening, the festival's last night. She also played fiddle as part of the Bluegrass Situation Superjam with Sara Watkins, Ed Helms and Lee Ann Womack.

Isbell introduced "Cover Me Up" by saying it was one of the harder songs he's ever written because it couldn't be terrible. Shires makes it clear, if the song didn't measure up, no one but the two of them would have ever heard it.

"If it would have been weird, I would have told him," she says.

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.