''Take It Like a Man'' is the seventh solo studio album by American singer-songwriter

Amanda Shires Amanda Rose Shires (born March 5, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and fiddle player. Shires has released seven solo albums starting in 2005, her most recent being '' Take It Like a Man'' in 2022. In 2019, she founded a country music super ...

. Produced by

Lawrence Rothman Lawrence Rothman (born June 19, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. Their debut album '' The Book of Law'' was released on October 13, 2017 via Downtown Records/Interscope. The album was produced by Rothman and Justin R ...

and recorded at the RCA Studio B in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, it was released on July 29, 2022, through ATO Records.

Critical reception

''Take It Like a Man'' was met with generally favorable reviews from critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 83, based on ten reviews. Chris Nelson of ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...

'' gave the album four out of five stars, resuming: "intense. But the much tougher stuff here is emotional". Jenessa Williams of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' praised the album, saying "it's rousing stuff, and with

indie-pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...

producer Lawrence Rothman on hand, her vivid, intentionally raw fiddle-playing is balanced well with expressions of her softer side, seemingly taking inspiration from peers who are blazing trails beyond

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

's traditional bounds". Writing for ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'', Lisa Marie Ferla called the album "a bold re-statement of artistic identity". Eric R. Danton of '' Paste'' wrote: "for all her strong feelings on ''Take It Like a Man'', Shires remains a poet at heart. If her lyrics here are often forceful, they're also always evocative and sometimes even elegant, whether she's revisiting her fondness for bird imagery or seeking the thrill that accompanies a new relationship". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' reviewer found the album "expand her

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

-based sound, mixing

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

-style atmospherics, Seventies pop melodies and even a splash of

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals,

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

– keyboards,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, guitars,

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

* Jason Isbell – guitars * Fred Eltringham – drums, percussion *

Julian Dorio Julian Dorio (born November 26, 1981) is an American drummer. He is a founding member of the rock band The Whigs. Biography Julian started drumming at the age of 6, as an original member of the Flying Dorios. The band included his father an ...

– drums, percussion * Jimbo Hart – bass guitar * Peter Levin – keyboards,

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, piano *

Brittney Spencer Brittney Spencer (born September 8, 1988) is an American country singer–songwriter. Spencer received notable attention following a viral Twitter video showing Spencer singing a cover of song by The Highwomen. The video drew praise from fellow c ...

– backing vocals *

Maren Morris Maren Larae Morris (born April 10, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter. While rooted in the Country music, country genre, her music also blends elements of Pop music, pop, R&B music, R&B, and Hip-Hop music, hip-hop. Born and raised in Arlingt ...

– backing vocals * Austin Hoke – cello * Kristin Weber – violin * Kris Wilkinson – viola * Ben Zelico – keyboards,

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

Peter Stroud Peter Stroud is a US guitarist best known for his work with Sheryl Crow, Don Henley, Pete Droge, and Sarah McLachlan. He is cofounder of 65amps, a company manufacturing guitar amplifiers. Biography Peter Stroud was born in Greensboro, North Ca ...

– guitars *

Audley Freed Audley Freed is a guitarist from Burgaw, North Carolina. Early life, family and education Freed's father was in the US Army, so the family relocated often during his early years. Eventually the family settled in Burgaw, North Carolina in the 1 ...

– guitars * Marc Franklin – trumpet * Art Edmaiston –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

* Kirk Smothers –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

* Kameron Whalum – trombone * Gena Johnson –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

* Louis Remenapp – engineering * Diana Walsh – assistant engineering *

Pete Lyman Pete Lyman is a mastering engineer, and owner of Infrasonic Mastering, an audio and vinyl mastering studio with locations in Nashville, Tennessee, Los Angeles, California, and Oakland, California. He has mastered Grammy-award-winning and Grammy-no ...

– mastering * Mike Schmelling – photography

Charts

References

External links

*{{Discogs master, 2728925, Amanda Shires – Take It Like A Man 2022 albums ATO Records albums Amanda Shires albums