“The violin has always been important for me. My mom was a single mom a...” — Amanda Shires Quote

“The violin has always been important for me. My mom was a single mom and we moved around a lot, and so the violin was always the one constant I had. I always feel better when I had my violin. Playing it is cathartic.”

“There's a stability in being a side person that can be kind of dangerous if you also want to be an artist on your own.”

“Maybe, whatever influence we have, other songwriters or women or whatever can feel like they can have a place too, I guess. Or that they don't have to do things the way that we've been taught we have to do them.”

“And music has always been incredibly cathartic for me, whether it's writing my own stuff or singing other people's music; it's very freeing.”

“Live interaction with a crowd is a cathartic, spiritual kind of exchange, and it's intensified at a festival.”

“The process was remarkably cathartic. I'd sit and listen to my father's voice - having not heard some of these tapes for 30 years and hearing his voice laying me down for a nap, our giggles and cooking dinner - and I remembered all those wonderful days. Normal days.”