"Alternative Americana’s most courageous chanteuse is authentic in ways that make her innate weirdness a blessing on the musical landscape. AJW appeals to me for the sheer anarchy of her approach to songwriting and performance, and possibly life in general. Amanda Jo defies the strictures of music-done-regular… some people may hear the first few measures of an AJW track and do one of those "WTF" thing. I feel bad for those people." - RAR Writer

 

"Experiencing AJW in ones ears at first might draw comparisons to Talking Heads filtered through couch weed, mixed down with a sweet micro bourbon; it is an acquired yet refined taste. How do you put a neat tidy bow on someone who defies categorization? You don’t. It feels like she channels those old time westerns, but her voice throws you into another dimension of late night television from the 70’s circa Night Gallery and The Twilight Zone." - Pittsburgh Music Magazine(Alan Welding)

 

"With "You’re The Father Of My Songs," AJW has succeeded in biting her thumb at all would be musical comparisons and instead has created a group of songs that live on their own idiosyncratic plane of existence. We experience an auditory watercolor whee the southern-country paintbrush has been dragged through the musical color palette and swirled all over the place. It’s prismatic, speckled with novel twists and turns, and unencumbered by genre baggage of convention." - WXPN 88.5(Folkadelphia)(Fred Knittel)

 

"Deftly sidestepping any easy categorization, whether it be freak folk or Americana, Williams’s acoustic ruminations are anything but simple and fall somewhere between the religious sacraments of The Louvin Brothers and the hellfire and brimstone rock of 16 Horsepower-though there is a dark sly humor that seems to radiate outward from within her songs." - Beats Per Minute(Joshua Pickard)

 

 

"Amanda Jo Williams is one of the strangest voices we’ve heard in the world of music in quite some time. It’s hard to try and explain exactly what she’s doing… and she certainly isn’t easily categorized or pigeonholed. The songs are strange concoctions with intriguing winding melodies, curious lyrics, and of course that instantly identifiable voice. We’re very impressed with what we’re hearing here… mainly because this lady is operating in a world all her own. Totally peculiar stuff… highly recommended. Top Pick." - Baby Sue

 

"Listening to her is kind of like chewing nervously on the insides of your mouth: It seems wrong but you just can’t help it, and the pain and faint salty taste of blood is strangely satisfying." - Philadelphia Weekly

 

Amanda Jo Williams voted #5 in the Top 10 LA Bands to Watch in 2011- “Amanda’s Georgia twang makes her own brand folk-rock unmistakably unique.” - L.A. Weekly

 

"Her primal music is an open maw to the mysteries and fears of the world. With a twang-heavy voice that sometimes breaks into manic gibberish or other cartoonish effects, she sounds like an unruly, sometimes lonely little girl left to her own devices." - L.A. Times

 

"Quirky and off-kilter are much overused terms to describe anything slightly out of the ordinary, but not for Amanda Jo Williams. "Your’re The Father Of My Songs" is more the latter than the former, ranging from psychedelic seasick shanties to country gospel and straight-up unashamed pop. But, lurking beneath the surface, is something altogether a bit more dangerous that every so often snaps and snarls and never lets the listener settle into any type of comfort zone and that, you suspect, is just how she likes it." - Mad Mackerel

 

"Most critics agree on the praise for Amanda Jo Williams. Although her voice is highly idiosyncratic, with a clawing southern drawl and punchy delivery, her songwriting is inventively addictive; the contrast is like sweet and sour, blending together with a seemingly natural intent. " - Obscure Sound

 

"Amanda Jo Williams’ combination of personalities and skills results in the most compelling roller coaster I’ve ridden in years. Amanda Jo Williams will stop your heart, show you the light, then bring you right back again." - L.A. Record

 

"This ain’t the alt-country you grew up with. It’s more indie-rock country, and in a live setting it’s pretty whacked stuff. Slide guitars and bent-up acoustic sounds float all around her alien-like tunes." - Delaware Online

 

"It’s not right to say AJW comes from somewhere “out of left field,” for “left field” a destination easily seen from home plate. No, the place Williams hails from is somewhere hidden from average minds—perhaps a lost mountain valley, a deserted island or possibly a cartoon. Her vocals are quite eccentric, sort of like Adam Sandler as an old lady, or maybe a crazed prospector from some old Western? Her backing music is often as odd, sounding much like someone hit the space bar and fired up a bunch of tracks that haven’t been laid properly yet. And the lyrics, loaded with strange word choices and subject matter—it all comes together sounding like Les Claypool writing for Sesame Street…you really need to give this lady a whirl." - Metromix NY

 

"The Georgia-bred songwriter’s growing legend is built as much on her prowess as a changeling as provocateur." - Buzzbands L.A.

 

"Amanda Jo Williams sounds entirely out of place and time." - Folk Radio UK

 

"Amanda Jo Williams brings her little surrealistic south-western universe with her on stage. Their outlaw hippie-country beats were very contagious and soon I was surrounded by a band of young girls wearing cowboy hats, and attempting to reproduce the fashion and the moves seen on stage, a cult following if there was one." - Rock NYC

 

"The band is Lynard Skynard’s family jamming under a big tree in the front yard, at times they settle into the band where everyone is J. J. Cale. Amanda Jo Williams is Bonnie Riatt’s ‘Bluebird,’ chirping like a child, as punkish and cosmic as a Georgia raised Patti Smith too." - Ink Eats Man

 

"The Bear Eats Me” is, I promise, like nothing you have heard before. Don’t expect sweet, insipid little tunes about cute boyfriends and broken girly hearts. Williams’ often sing-song lyrics reflect the voice of dark times, strange forms of affection and ideas at the edge of rationality. In short, it is really weird, but you just like it and you can’t explain why." - Jack Montgomery/Bowling Green Daily News

 

“Amanda Jo Williams is an angel-voiced beauty. Well, she's close enough for me. Some have called her freak-folk, but I don't know about that. I know that she's got some soul in that voice, as you can hear in her new album (released June 19 via Neurotic Yell Records). The Georgia native turned American traveler has created a wonderful record "The Bear Eats Me." It’s a folky mix of country and pop with great instrumentals that would be right at home on the Splash Mountain ride at Disneyland. That's a very high compliment coming from someone with a Disney annual pass." - Loudlocker

 

“Hailing from Hogansville, GA, Amanda Jo Williams returns fully charged with foot-stomping jubilance on her sophomore solo release, The Bear Eats Me. Williams' offbeat singing style is uninhibited and varied; she uses her lively, clipped delivery to mimic the staccato notes of her strings (or conversely, they're made to match hers) and, at other times, stretches out a syllable to clearly accentuate her hillbilly drawl. Her sound (a pastiche of genres) combines the twangy rowdiness of country rockabilly with rootsy, weird Americana, along with experimental meanderings of psychedelic punk. It's all raucous and wonderfully off-kilter.” Nereida Fernandes/Exclaim!

 

“Her soul-capturing tone makes you forget your age – makes you even forget to notice when she pulls you into her cosmic web of brilliant, eclectic simplicity and charming, surreal wonder.”Tuesday Phillips - Tuesday Phillips

 

“If Amanda Jo Williams’ latest EP, Homeheart, had a belly, I would affectionately press my lips to it and blow. Harboring a wry sense of humor and an unapologetic embrace of the odd, Williams’ penchant for theatrics make her come off as somewhat of a distaff Devendra Barnhart, though with a sound that is decidedly more niche. Homeheart is an agreeable slice of country-fried outsider folk, its tracks lullabies for the kid that sits in the back of the class.” - Daniel Barron/L.A. Music Blog

 

 

"This is unequivocally the best country album I've heard in years. I get just as much pleasure out of it as I get from Emmy Lou Harris or Gram Parsons or (gasp) Johnny Cash." - Coke Machine Glow

 

"The opening act was a singer songwriter named Amanda Jo Williams who sang simple, brutally honest songs about relationships, and 'Ring of Fire' by Johnny Cash, in a voice that seemed to be channeling one of Sybil's 16 personalities (Peggy, I think it was... the little girl one). She also sang one of the most direct songs about fucking that I've ever heard, as if she were singing about washing dishes. Hilarious." - Feed Your Head Today

 

"It was good, weird outlaw country music. If you took equal parts Loretta Lynn, Lucinda Williams, Hank Jr. and Hee Haw, threw them all together and wondered how they got that way you have a small idea what the show was like. There was a lot of love in the room last Friday night." - Radio Free Silverlake

 

"One of the most interesting singers out there right now. She is unlike anything and worthy of being followed around and documented. Someone Alan Lomax might have fallen in love with, she does seem to come from another world." - Greg Jamie from O'Death/ When You Awake

 

“Georgia native with her fourth release. Williams has a very unique voice - maybe a mix of Jolie Holland and Sallie Ford. It’s very magnetic, playful and wise. The sound is a bizarrely skewed amalgam of country, indie, folk, ???. This is the kind of weird stuff KZSU should be proud of having. All songs worth a play.” - MC Dizzy Jackson - Zookeeper Online(KZSU Stanford 90.1 fm)

 

"Pure magic. Simple, mysterious, and other-worldly. Like a Sexton fairy-tale." - Lach(Anti-folk founder)

 

"An elemental strum is a bare platform to build on, but with honesty and openness you can construct a mighty vessel. Amanda Jo Williams uses chords sparingly to make the humblest of roofs over her head, just enough to keep her voice and her personality warm, safe, and raw. When I listen I tilt my head slightly to the side and let my lips curl into a curious smile, I step into her humble abode and dust off the detritus of adulthood." - Naturalismo