amanda jo williams The Bear Eats Me (green vinyl LP, £17.95)

Limited edition LP coke bottle green vinyl, dropcard download with bonus tracks. Amanda Jo Williams always knew she was going to get out of her tiny town of Hogansville, Georgia, she just didnʼt quite know how-- until one day a model scout plucked the gangly, dark haired beauty out of the crowd. Quickly, Amanda had landed amid the buzzing energy of NYC, a place so inspiring she realized she definitely wasnʼt going to sit still for a photographerʼs lens. On a whim, she and a friend hitchhiked up to Woodstock, NY, where Amanda met a man who would bring her two gifts-- the gift of playing music, and the gift of her twin girls. Suddenly, Amanda was recording new songs as fast as she could write them. Finding her calling set her heart afire with new dreams, and the experience, she recounts, felt entirely natural. “It made me feel good, free, and like I could go places I hadnʼt been,” she says. When she talks, itʼs in a strong southern drawl swirled into a high pitch coo, like a little girl or a fairy nymph. And when Amanda Jo Williams sings, it can sound as soft as a mother singing her children to sleep, or as primal as the call of an Indian across a wild plain. In fact, Native American culture resonates with Amanda, and its heartbeat threads through her sonic landscape. “I think,” says Amanda, “I was an Indian in my past life.” Upon review of her first record, the critically acclaimed, cult-adored, punkabilly cosmic country offering Yes I Will, Mr. Man, Coke Machine Glow said this: "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." Her newest offering, The Bear Eats Me, is chock full of catchy rockabilly band numbers, with multi-layered recordings featuring cherubic choruses and good olʼ honky tonk. Itʼs dusty jukebox rock that will wake the kids in the middle of the night for a boot-stomping, moon-invoking dance party on the back porch. While the experience of Amanda Jo Williamsʼ music is at once like nothing youʼve ever heard, it sometimes evokes some legendary saucy and soulful comparisons: like Hank Williams Jr., Joanna Newsome, Melanie or June Carter, Victoria Williams and Lucinda Williams as well. When you mention influences though, Amanda shrugs. “Oh, thatʼs nice. I like all those people. Iʼm just being me.” Track Listing: 1. Light On 2. Morning Thunder 3. Keep The Animals 4. Soul In Songs 5. Nickel On My Back 6. The Bear Eats Me 7. Sunlight 8. Up The Mountain Going 9. Get It On Up 10. Waiting For You 11. Hello Good Morning 12. Country Girl 13. Come Or Go 14. Sick And Dying / vinyl download bonus tracks : Salty Love / Boney (by JO COOL)