Amy Andrews

of Kerrville Folk Festival and NBC's The Voice - Rebecca Loebe

Seattle-based paper covers Amy's inaugural west coast tour - Bainbridge Island Review

Music publicist and blogger Therra Cathryn Gwynn on Amy's music - Arts in America

Amy is profiled in her hometown paper in Maryland for her role as a semi-finalist in an international competition for singer-songwriters. - The Dundalk Eagle

Andrews is profiled as one of six rising stars, of which she is the only musician - "singer songwriter on the rise," in the Atlanta area - Simply Buckhead Magazine

Singer-songwriter Amy Andrews is on a tour of self-identified feminist bookstores....

Find her in the pages of Ms. Magazine's 40th anniversary issue! - Ms. Magazine

Music Transcends Language - The Decatur Daily - Decatur, AL

I cried the first time I heard Amy Andrews. I unknowingly heard her this past summer listening to my friends,The Skipperdees, perform on the Knoxville Tennessee radio station WDVX Blue Plate Special. The sassy, sad twin sisters delivered perfection with the segment host providing inspiration and advice in the most lovely Tennessee accent as sweet as farmers market honey. After they performed Amy Andrews was introduced providing a rich contrast between my folksy friends. As just a girl and her guitar, she managed to incite the emotions and memories that I had tucked away behind the guise of adulthood, heartbreak, and change.



Her 9/14/13 performance at the Athens Farmers Market provided a refreshing and nostalgic atmosphere. Her powerful and soft voice matched perfectly with the early morning pre-autumn breeze. Whether it is bluegrass, folk, country, or rock, music has a profound impact at the Athens Farmers Market. During Amy’s 5 minute coffee break I noticed the stillness and stagnancy of the market sanz music. There was still the light chorus of children playing, farmer-patron dialogues, and little league baseball at the surrounding fields, and the gentle hum of community but it was as if someone erased all the lines out of a Piet Mondrian piece leaving detached blocks of color. The musical performers at the market supply a foundation for all the facets of community, sustainability, tradition, and good food to merge.

Inspired by her music, I picked the mind of the lovely Amy Andrews to find out more about her relationship with the market and her music:


What sets Athens apart from other farmers markets for you as a musician?


The number one reason I enjoy playing farmers markets is simply because I love the great sense of community and shared values - supporting local farmers, local business, local artists. Athens Farmers Market is certainly no exception. There is also definitely something to be said for playing a town with such rich musical history, identity. I’m so excited that y’all included me in this fall’s line-up of artists at the market.


What’s your favorite farmers market product?


Oh, no! I can’t choose just one! I love everything – vegetables, fruits, fresh-baked bread, sauces and spices, herbs, artisanal products.
Truth be told, though, every time I go to the Baltimore Farmers Market when I go home to visit family, my mom and I linger by the pints of strange-to-us mushrooms, the just ground coffee, the falafel stand, and the fresh cut flowers.


If you could write a song about a vegetable, which would you choose?


An eggplant, obviously. Look at how dramatic and attention seeking the eggplant is. It’s just asking for an opera.


Where is the strangest place you’ve performed?


Strangest. Hmm... I guess, I would have to say a boat on the Maumee River in Ohio.


I did a tour of feminist bookstores last year, where I played a benefit show for each of ten self-identifying indie, feminist bookstores in the US and Canada. One of the shops asked if I would perform their benefit show on a “leaf-peeping” tour along the Maumee River. It was a great experience, but what made it strange was the fact that I had a human mic stand for my entire performance. Bless that woman and her patience holding a mic for 60 minutes.


Favorite season and its seasonal food?


Fall, definitely! Hmm... Food. Brussel sprouts or pears, probably!


Favorite Disney character?


I don’t know if they would be my “favorites,” but I always saw myself as a hybrid of Ariel, from the Little Mermaid, and Gus Gus, from Cinderella.




Which musicians do you admire? Why?


I grew up as a huge fan, I still am, of Bette Midler. She is an incredible performer - a modern day vaudevillian with her storytelling, her jokes, her song and dance. Growing up, I wanted to be just like her.
As far as folks who are known primarily as musicians, I would say that there are a lot of artists that I look up to – Patty Griffin is no small inspiration to me.


What the first album you purchased?


Bette Midler’s Gypsy! No shame.


When touring, do you have a go to mixtape?


On the road, I listen to a lot of NPR, podcasts (about 20 episodes of How Was Your Week with Julie Klausner got me through a roundtrip journey between Atlanta to Chicago one long weekend).
I also have a few Gillian Welch, Patty Griffin, Rose Cousins, and Anais Mitchell albums that I’ve destroyed by overplaying.


Do you sing your own songs in the shower?


Ha! This is definitely the first time I’ve ever gotten this question.


No, I don’t sing my own songs in the shower. I sing Motown in the shower. I have a Motown radio station that I play nearly every time I take a shower.



If you want to see Amy Andrews, she’s playing a show at Hendershots (237 Prince Ave) Sunday, September 22 at 8:00 pm. Feel free to check her out on Facebook or Youtube. I’m sure she’d love to hear from some farmers market patrons.

At the next market, I challenge you to talk to the performers and stop and notice the richness that their talent brings to the market. - Landon Bubb, Athens Farmers Market Press

"... Andrews’ powerful and dramatically dynamic voice transitions seamlessly from soaring to reserved and intimately compliments her heartfelt lyrics and raw honesty. Pointedly personal, pleading and direct, sensitive and sincere, Amy Andrews leaves her listeners emotionally wrought and begging for more." - MADE Paper, Michael Thornton

Born in Baltimore and raised on the Chesapeake Bay, Amy Andrews was brought up on the sounds of Sinatra, Bonnie Raitt, country and blues. She spent years training for a career in musical theatre and classical performance, however set her sights on performing original music upon realizing that she craved a closer connection to her audience than large concert halls and theaters allowed.

Amy started out as the lead singer of a Baltimore folk trio however, after a few tours through the southeast, decided to take her music career to Georgia. She’s since toured extensively, with recent travels to the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and western Canada, with festivals and shows everywhere from the big cities to gold rush towns.

How would you describe your music?

Part Sinatra, part Gillian Welch.

What instrument/s do you play?

I’m unquestionably a vocalist over anything else that I may ever be. I’ve been singing my entire life, and picked up a guitar only a few years ago. I had never thought of writing my own music. I never thought I could (or even desired) to write, but, after putting pen to paper a few years ago, I discovered that I loved writing — crafting stories, or working through my own experiences, in verse is a type of joy I didn’t know existed.

Which song would you most like everyone to hear?

“Alone With You.” I wrote this song on the road a few months ago, and it is absolutely one of my favorite songs to play.

What were the first and last records you bought?

Pretty sure the first music I ever bought for myself was the soundtrack of Bette Midler’s Gypsy. I would buy it all over again. The last music I bought was Patty Griffin’s American Kid. Love Patty.

What was the last song you wrote about?

Choosing to be happy.

Would you ever date someone whose favorite artist/band was your least favorite?

I think that my least favorite musical artist would have to be someone promoting misogyny (or something similarly hateful, dangerous) with their art. And I would never be with someone who promoted anything anti-woman.

What is the best and worst thing about touring?

Best: Getting to see new places and new people.
Worst: Not getting to experience new places or people.

Touring has, in my experience, been a race from town to town and performance to performance. I would like to schedule time into touring schedules, so that I can enjoy new places and meet new people.

If you could share a line-up with any two other artists, who would that be?

Oh, this is so difficult. Perhaps I could open for Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings? That would certainly be a dream come true.

When you’re super famous what will the name of your autobiography be?

A friend recently named it for me: Feminist Ranting in My Chest: The Amy Andrews Story.

Pretty accurate, but it could be just as easily titled something like, All the Tears and All the Cats, or maybe Zigzagging the Nation in Hazardous Driving Conditions: A collection of ditties inspired by the fear of being struck by lightning, or the anguished facial expression accompanying a pee-dance.

What was the last book you read?

You Remind Me of You: A Poetry Memoir by Eireann Corrigan. I was at a used bookstore looking for some Nikki Giovanni to replace some Nikki Giovanni that I’d lent (and lost, understandably so) to a friend. I am so grateful to have found Corrigan’s book on a pile of Giovanni’s work. I took them all home with me.

To keep up with Amy Andrews, follow her on Facebook and Twitter. Her music can be purchased directly from her website, as well as via iTunes and at live shows. - Autostraddle, Crystal Silvester

Folk music and activism have a long history together, from Woody Guthrie’s radical protest songs to modern troubadours like the recently deceased Pete Seeger. But you don’t have to be a big name to make a big difference. All over the country, artists maintain a commitment to affecting change through their art and their actions. Amy Andrews is one of those artists.

“I would never claim that my writing is full of social or political activism, but I do feel a responsibility to my world community," says the Atlanta singer/songwriter. "And the shape that my activism takes is by lending my art, my voice, my influence – small as it may be – to causes that I believe in. I give performances that benefit nonprofits and organizations that work to enact positive change in our world community, and our local communities.”

Andrews, a Baltimore native with a degree in operatic vocal performance, made a new home in Atlanta a few years ago. Between performances in The A’s many listening rooms — including Eddie’s Attic, where founder Eddie Owens has been a mentor and a staunch supporter — Andrews has lent her voice, literally, to a number of causes, including the local Songs for Kids Foundation.

While she’s happy to help out any worthy cause, there is one that is particularly dear to Andrews. “Any organization that works to offer resources (safety, nourishment, and empowerment in all forms) to victims of domestic violence is certainly of great importance to me,” she says.

Andrews is a bright and chipper presence but, as her commitment to activism suggests, she’s also possessed of a seriousness of purpose, a characteristic that colors her songwriting. Having traded arias for a mellow and often melancholy style, Andrews showcases her formidable vocal power and impressive control in a far less bombastic fashion, by accompanying herself on acoustic guitar.

Despite the fact that Andrews has found a supportive community of folkies in her adoptive home city, Atlanta is much better known for the rough-and-tumble antics of bands like Black Lips, or the party rap of artists like 2 Chainz. Seeking to connect with the larger folk community, Andrews went for the first time this year to the Folk Alliance International Conference in Kansas City.

“The conference was like a giant family reunion, full of musicians, promoters, agents, and music lovers, offering support and sharing insight without pretense or expectation,” Andrews says. “I was a total fangirl.”

Some of her highlights from the conference included Della Mae and Ruth Moody, both of the Wailin’ Jennys.

The conference also featured an address from former Vice President Al Gore, further strengthening the link between activism and folk. But Andrews is quick to point out that folk musicians don’t have a monopoly on involvement with causes.

“I don’t think the idea of a link between art and activism is at all exclusive to the genre of folk music, but there is certainly an undeniable, inextricable link between a sense of, and a responsibility to, community within the folk world,” she says.

The coming year is full of firsts for Andrews as she prepares for her inaugural tour out West. “I have been reading travelogues for months,” she confides. “Yellowstone, here I come!” - Sonicbids, Rachel Bailey

Eddie Owen, of Eddie's Attic and Eddie Owen Presents at the Red Clay Theatre, is profiled in Atlanta Magazine, and gives Amy a shout-out during her first headlining show at his esteemed venue. - Atlanta Magazine