Album Notes

Paul Amandes is a Chicago singer-songwriter and a theatre guy (actor-singer-director-playwright). For the past few years, he’s been singing & playing with Michael Smith, Jamie O\'Reilly, &/or Anne Hills (who produced & sings on LOCAL WONDERS) in concert and in shows like Michael\'s musical setting of O. Henry\'s THE GIFT OF THE MAGI and in SCARLET CONFESSIONS (which Paul also directed).

Paul learned to play the guitar as a teen-ager; playing in 50s revival bands, at the folk mass, and in the dozens of shows he performed in - in high school & college. For twenty years Paul shared the stage with his brother, actor-singer Tom Amandes (and with Jamie O.) in the Irish-and-then-some band: JAMIE O\'REILLY AND THE ROGUES which recorded 2 albums. Paul wrote the bluegrassy score for ROMEO AND JULIET, VERONA, MISSISSIPPI (set in the 1930s south). He staged & performed in his own musical TWO-FOOLS GOLD at Columbia College Chicago where\'s he teaches full-time in the Theatre Department. Paul scored music for FEMALE TRANSPORT, THE LITTLE HUMPBACK HORSE, and JUDEVINE for the University of Nebraska – all directed by his talented buddy, Virginia Smith. Virginia and Paul co-wrote the script for LOCAL WONDERS which was originally produced at the Nebraska Repertory Theatre.

Paul directed HELLO DALI (two After Dark Awards) again with Smith and O\'Reilly at Victory Gardens Theater (2001 Tony Award). He has worked in most of Chicago’s premier theatres as an actor, singer, director, composer, guitarist, and several of the plays he’s written have toured the US.