Amanda Jones is an American composer and musician who has composed scores for films, commercials, and television series. She is a member of the indie rock band The Anti-Job and has earned the distinction of becoming the first African American woman nominated in a score category at the Emmys for her work on the Apple TV+ series Home.
Life
Jones was born on October 26, 1988, in Columbia, Maryland and began playing piano at the age of three and guitar around the age of fourteen. Jones attended Vassar College intending to study chemistry but subsequently changed her major to music. Jones studied music composition, production, and classical guitar under Terry Champlin. She earned an A.B. in music from Vassar and received certificates in film scoring and orchestration from the Berklee College of Music.
After graduating from Vassar, Jones moved to Los Angeles in 2010 to record with her indie rock band, The Anti-Job, and started to consider a parallel career composing music for television and films.
Career In 2014 through 2016, Jones worked as a music production assistant for Hans Zimmer, Henry Jackson, John Powell, and Michael Levine. Her work during that time included the films How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Kingsman: The Secret Service.
In 2016, Jones landed a job as a senior music coordinator for Lionsgate. During that time she worked on several television series including Nashville (CMT), Dear White People (Netflix), and Greenleaf (OWN). In 2018, Jones got an opportunity to score her first feature film, One Angry Black Man. Jones has since scored numerous short and feature films, including Andre Hormann's documentary feature Ringside; Smriti Mundhra and Sami Khan’s Oscar-nominated documentary St. Louis Superman; and Sujata Day’s feature film Definition Please.
Jones television credits include OWN’s anthology series Cherish the Day, produced by Ava DuVernay; BET’s Twenties produced by Lena Waithe; HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show produced by Robin Thede and Issa Rae; the comedy series Shitty Boyfriends produced by Lisa Kudrow; Love in the Time of Corona on Freeform; and the Apple TV+ series Home.
Jones scored the “Maine” episode of Home, for which she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score), becoming the first African American woman nominated in a scores category at the Emmys.
Discography +YearTitleLabel2020Home: Season 1 Episode V, "Maine" (Apple TV+ Original S
Series Soundtrack)Lakeshore2020Twenties (Original Series Soundtrack)Lakeshore
Films +YearTitleDirectorNotes2018One Angry Black ManMenelek Lumumba2019RingsideAndre Hormann2019St. Louis SupermanSami Kahn2020Definition PleaseSujata Day2020On the 12th Date of ChristmasGary Yates2021BurrosJefferson Stein2023The Perfect FindNuma Perrier 2024 I Am Ready, Warden Smriti Mundhra Short documentary film 2026 Cookie Queens Alysa Nahmias
Television +YearTitleEpisodesNotes2015Shitty Boyfriends82019A Black Lady Sketch Show62020Twenties82020Home"Maine"TV docuseriesNominated for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special2020Love in the Time of Corona42020Cherish the Day82020Adventure Time: Distant Lands22021–24Good Trouble57 seasons 3–52022Naomi132023-25Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake20season 1-22023Young Love122025Murderbot10season 1
Awards and nominations Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score) -Home – "Maine" – Apple TV+ – MediaWeaver/Four M Studios/Altimeter Films, Composer. NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Gospel/Christian Album for Greenleaf on OWN. S&G Rising Award for musical composition work in film and television (2019).
Initiatives Co-founder of Composers Diversity Collective whose mission is to increase the visibility of composers of diverse backgrounds and facilitates mentoring.
References