Album Notes

Amanda Garrigues was born in the southern college town of Gainesville, Florida. In the music that she writes and performs, she pays tribute to the themes of home, independence and the human condition.

From the time she was a young girl, Amanda absorbed her love of music through her father, an accomplished guitarist who played campfire songs to her while she sang along. Her family attended church every Sunday, where the traditional hymns of the church choir she sang in further inspired her to want to create and perform her own music.

While a student at the University of Florida, she acted as singer/frontwoman for progressive folk band, Big Shoals Tract and quickly established herself as one of the most popular and endearing women in the Gainesville music scene. During her time in Big Shoals Tract, Amanda met Lynda Stipe and her band, the eclectic Athens, Georgia-based, Hetch-Hetchy, whom she briefly toured with as a back-up singer. When BST disbanded, she decided it was time to focus more on her own songwriting and guitar playing.

Amanda's debut CD Spirit Act was released in the Fall of 1998. Since that time, she has toured the Southeast consistently, sharing the stage with such artists like Jonatha Brooke, Iris Dement and Danielle Howle. She has also been invited to showcase at Nashville's NEA Extravaganza, the Atlantis Music Conference, NEMO in Boston and the Rockrgrl Music Conference in Seattle. In her spare time, Amanda also writes a monthly article for Womanrock.com.

Amanda is one of those rare artists who speaks to you in a voice that gives compassion and registers pain. Whether you are listening to Amanda from the comfort of your couch or from the back of a smoke-filled club, you know immediately that you are the recipient of a gift.