Amanda Shires, Creekside at Hilton Garden Inn, Austin Tx, Saturday 19 March 2011 (SXSW)

Amanda sang in a husky voice accompanied by her violin, as well as pedal steel and guitar.  The guitarist gave a good rhythm which drove the tunes on and the band made a good noise for the three of them.

At one point, as she tuned her violin, the guitarist told a story about how Amanda, being from Texas, thinks Texas is the best place in the world. He said about how they were driving into Texas and Amanda was saying how everyone says please and thank you and is polite. Then, as they pulled away from a gas station soon after coming into Texas, they drove past two guys beating each other up.

Amanda played the last few songs were just her and the ukele. The songs seemed to have more depth and impact as the set went on, the effect of their seeming simplicity seemed to build and was quite affecting at the end when she played a song that sounded very autobiographical and close to her heart.