AMANDA RICHARDS
& The Good Long Whiles

Raised between a horse ranch in rural California and the punk clubs of 90’s Portland, Amanda grew up with one foot in the stirrup and the other in a Doc Marten.

She spent two decades as a singer-songwriter and performer before stumbling — accidentally and brilliantly — into filmmaking. In 2018, she wrote Whiskey Dixie & The Big Wet Country as a stage musical to make herself laugh through a dark chapter. A sold-out run led to a surprise decision: make it a film.

Now an award-winning feature, Whiskey Dixie has been called John Waters meets Johnny Cash — a raunchy outlaw country musical full of grit, heart, and unapologetic fun.

Amanda also fronts the gothic-Americana band The Good Long Whiles, whose cinematic, reverbed-laden sound reflects her lifelong love of story-driven songcraft.

Her creative philosophy is simple: if you can’t hide it, decorate it. She embraces imperfections, sees obstacles as opportunities, and believes in doing the thing that scares you most. (She also believes in feeding your film crew venison if the budget runs dry.)

Based in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, young son, a geriatric cat and a lactose intolerant French Bulldog, Amanda continues to write, perform, and direct stories that empower the outsider and celebrate the beautifully unpolished corners of life.