Amanda Shires has announced “Loving You”, her new album with the late Bobbie Nelson, with a new cover of the George Gershwin standard “Summertime,” featuring Nelson’s brother, Willie. “Loving You” is due out June 23rd (via Silver Knife/ATO).
The new video was co-directed by Shires and Deren Ney and shot by photographer Joshua Black Wilkins and album producer Lawrence Rothman at Arlyn Studios in Austin, Texas. The studio is co-owned and operated by Bobbie Nelson’s son Freddy Fletcher, who also plays drums on the album.
“I think [Bobbie Nelson] related to the song because she was a mother and the family unit was important to her, whether or not she had the idealized version,” Shires said in a statement. “I first saw Bobbie playing when I was 16 or so at some festival somewhere in Texas where I grew up. I saw her perform many times over the years and always admired the way she played so effortlessly and with so much strength and confidence. She radiated music. Much of my path seemed possible because I saw a woman working and making a career of music at a young age, and that woman was Bobbie Nelson.”
Bobbie Nelson first recorded the song with Willie for their Grammy-winning album “Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin”. The siblings released a memoir called “Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band” in 2020 via Random House. Bobbie Nelson died last year at 91.
Amanda Shires released her last LP, “Take It Like a Man”, in 2022. In February, she performed the track “Take It Like a Man” track “Hawk for the Dove” alongside her husband and frequent collaborator, Jason Isbell, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
The Fat Angel Sings 