Writing and performing music is where Amanda feels most at home and in her element. It’s on the stage where she finds her most powerful means to connect with people – through sound and story. As she studied literature and creative writing, eventually earning a graduate degree in teaching English, stories began to fuel her songwriting: stories passed down from voices and pages and traditions; stories of experience, reaching into places that hold the promises of the people we wanted to become and the strengths we hoped to have. Stories spoke songs to her. These songs began to take on the indefinite edges of the unavoidable aches in life, of desire and flirtation, of the beauty of all the uncomfortable paradoxes we carry.

In 2012, as she began performing her music on Seattle stages ranging from clubs to concert halls, she also began writing and performing original music inspired by books for The Bushwick Book Club Seattle.

Amanda recently won first place in the Jane Titland Songwriting Contest at the Tumbleweed Music Festival for her song “Shirt.” As long as she’s been playing her songs, audience members, friends, peers, and family alike have been asking her, “When can I buy your album?” After years of performing, Amanda is thrilled to  finally present her debut album, Olea. Listen here.

“I don’t remember what I was listening to before I clicked on Amanda’s song, “Shirt”. I only remember feeling a total shift in my attention. Right away I was thinking: WOW. In a large sea of music made with electronics/effects/pedals/plugins, I was hearing something unquestionably real.”  -Bandterviews.com

 “. . . to hear that depth from one so young is truly moving. I found OLEA both creative and inventive. [Her] voice not only soars but I also love the tender, more vulnerable sound along the way . . . ”  -David Maloney

 “Her recent full length, Olea, showcases Winterhalter’s considerable range, including the album’s triumphant high point, “I’m 100 Years Old,” and “What’s This, Death?” delivers yet one more reason Winterhalter deserves our attention.”    -Jon Rooney for BallofWax.org

Winner of the 2016 Tumbleweed Music Festival Jane Titland Songwriting Contest

Seattle based singer/songwriter, 2018 Listen Up! Women in Music grant recipient, and 2019 Jack Straw Cultural Center recording grant recipient, Tekla Waterfield lives in the wide-open realm of Americana Roots music, incorporating elements of folk, country, indie, rhythm and blues, and soul.

Partnering with collaborator and husband, Jeff Fielder (Mark Lanegan, Amy Ray) to produce her 2018 release,The Curtain Falls, garnered Waterfield critical acclaim, radio play, and placement in the award-winning indie film, "Dakota" with her song, "Rock and Roll Man".