In the end, they weren’t vampires. Americana singer-songwriters Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires are divorcing, People reported, an end to one of the most heartwarming marriages in music. Isbell filed to divorce Shires on December 15, citing irreconcilable differences. Isbell, a guitarist, and Shires, a fiddle player, collaborated for years before they began dating in 2011 and eventually married in 2013. From the start, their relationship was defined by their musical symbiosis. Shires helped push Isbell to get sober in 2012, an experience that inspired his 2013 album Southeastern, which she played on. She later joined his band the 400 Unit on fiddle, while Isbell played guitar and wrote for her supergroup the Highwomen. Some of their best songs had been inspired by each other, like Isbell’s “If We Were Vampires.”
But the couple had also been open about their struggles. They spoke about marriage counseling in Isbell’s 2023 documentary Running With Our Eyes Closed, while Shires sang about a rough patch in their relationship on her 2022 song “Fault Lines.” The couples raised eyebrows when Shires did not attend the Grammys with Isbell on February 4, where Isbell and the 400 Unit won two awards. At least we get to keep both of their music in the split.
