Jason Isbell is filing for divorce from Amanda Shires

Their wedding Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires, two pillars of the world of country and American music, has struck his last chord.

Isbell and Shires filed for divorce after nearly 11 years of marriage on Dec. 15, 2023, according to court records reviewed by Rolling rock. Isbell is an accomplished singer-songwriter who, for the past decade, has fronted his own band, the 400 Unit. Shires is both a respected solo artist, a member of the supergroup Highwomen and an occasional member of Isbell's band. At last Sunday's Grammy Awards, Isbell and the 400 Unit won two Grammys, including Best Americana album for their latest release Weathervanes.

Representatives for Isbell and Shires did not immediately respond rolling rocks request for comment.

The couple's history dates back two decades. Isbell first became aware of Shires in 2003 when she was playing fiddle in Billy Joe Shaver's band. A year later, the two met. By then, Shires was in the Thriftstore Cowgirls and Isbell was in the Drive-By Truckers. When a friend of Shires told her that Isbell was a famous rock star, Shires had him sign a Polaroid as a joke. Isbell then watched her performance from a front row seat. “Now in hindsight, that seems really creepy. I would never do that,” Isbell said Rolling rock in 2018. “I was like, 'That's this girl who played with Billy Joe Shaver, it's got to be her.' Because he was wearing the same boots. We met and talked for a while after that.”

The two stayed in touch, with Shires playing on the 2011 album Here we are Relax and become a recurring member of his band. That same year they became a couple and the two began living together in Nashville. In 2012, he visited her at Sewanee: The University of the South, Tennessee, and proposed to her. In February 2013, they got married and two years later a daughter, Mercy Rose, came along.

As the couple openly admitted, the challenges of a two-career musical family, combined with a drinking problem Isbell developed early in their relationship, continued to plague their marriage. Sayres helped get him into rehab early on. “It started out as a cool night, you know, and it ended up being the worst night ever, ever, ever,” he told WNYC. “At that point, I had nothing to do with him. Because I was very angry the next morning.”

Fans of both musicians often read between the lines to determine which songs they had written for the other. Although the pair rarely confirmed these suspicions, few doubted Shires' “Fault Lines” from her 2002 album Take it like a manit was about their marital issues: “You could say it's all my fault we just couldn't get along/And if anyone asks, I'll say what's true, and really, it's “I don't know.”

During the making of Isbell's album in 2020 Reunions, the difficulties between them seemed to have reached an extreme. Shires, who also performed on the record, said she felt her input was ignored and left their home to live in a motel for a week.

In February 2023, they both celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary with double upbeat posts. A few months later, the Sam Jones documentary on HBO Running with eyes closed detailing their lives and recording it Reunions. The film included tense scenes between the two in the studio, and Sayers was also seen reading aloud an email to Isbell about giving marriage advice. “I'll never go back and see it again,” Isbell said GQ This year. “But we told people the truth and it was good that they saw it, because that's the job.”