Jason Isbell Publicly Addresses Divorce From Amanda Shires on Podcast

Two months after filing from divorce from his wife of 11 years, Jason Isbell has publicly commented on his split from Amanda Shires. During a recent appearance on the Broken Record Podcast, the musician carefully addressed the dissolution of their marriage, which came to light earlier this month.

“I think I’m just going to try and be honest in all the ways that I legally can. There’s certain things we’ve agreed not to talk about,” Isbell said on the podcast. “But I think I can still manage to tell people who I am and what the truth is from my perspective. It’s one of those things where not everything that ends was a failure, you know? I think we did a lot of really beautiful things together and I have really fond memories of all of that, and I don’t regret any of it, even the hard stuff.”

The musician compared this outlook to his pursuit of sobriety, when he similarly accepted the highs and lows as parts of shaping him into the person he is now. Throughout their relationship, Isbell and Shires openly acknowledged the challenges Isbell’s prior drinking brought to their family, on top of them both having successful and demanding careers in music. Shires played a role in helping him enter into rehab early on. “It started out like a cool night, you know, and ended up being the worst night ever, ever, ever, ever,” she has previously told WNYC. “At that point, I was not having any more to do with him. Because I was so mad the next morning.”

On the podcast, Isbell added: “The time will come when the wounds aren’t still fresh, the time will come when I’m able to take all this and put it into my work in a way that is honest and true, but makes sense for me.”

But he says he isn’t looking to transform his latest hardship into music. “I’m gonna be patient and in the meantime I got plenty of other shit to write about. That’s one thing I think of a lot of songwriters miss is the inspiration,” he said. “You don’t need it, man. You don’t need it, it’s everywhere. If you can’t look out your window and find 20 things to write about then you’re not a serious songwriter yet. Because it’s all over the place.”

Last weekend, Isbell and his band the 400 Unit made their debut at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, playing a set that leaned heavy on the group’s latest album Weathervanes.

Two months after filing from divorce from his wife of 11 years, Jason Isbell has publicly commented on his split from Amanda Shires. During a recent appearance on the Broken Record Podcast, the musician carefully addressed the dissolution of their marriage, which came to light earlier this month.

“I think I’m just going to try and be honest in all the ways that I legally can. There’s certain things we’ve agreed not to talk about,” Isbell said on the podcast. “But I think I can still manage to tell people who I am and what the truth is from my perspective. It’s one of those things where not everything that ends was a failure, you know? I think we did a lot of really beautiful things together and I have really fond memories of all of that, and I don’t regret any of it, even the hard stuff.”

The musician compared this outlook to his pursuit of sobriety, when he similarly accepted the highs and lows as parts of shaping him into the person he is now. Throughout their relationship, Isbell and Shires openly acknowledged the challenges Isbell’s prior drinking brought to their family, on top of them both having successful and demanding careers in music. Shires played a role in helping him enter into rehab early on. “It started out like a cool night, you know, and ended up being the worst night ever, ever, ever, ever,” she has previously told WNYC. “At that point, I was not having any more to do with him. Because I was so mad the next morning.”

On the podcast, Isbell added: “The time will come when the wounds aren’t still fresh, the time will come when I’m able to take all this and put it into my work in a way that is honest and true, but makes sense for me.”

But he says he isn’t looking to transform his latest hardship into music. “I’m gonna be patient and in the meantime I got plenty of other shit to write about. That’s one thing I think of a lot of songwriters miss is the inspiration,” he said. “You don’t need it, man. You don’t need it, it’s everywhere. If you can’t look out your window and find 20 things to write about then you’re not a serious songwriter yet. Because it’s all over the place.”

Last weekend, Isbell and his band the 400 Unit made their debut at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, playing a set that leaned heavy on the group’s latest album Weathervanes.