Part of the vision for Take Back Your Forest is to have all event expenses covered by in kind donations from local companies and all performances 100% donated by local performers. This way the Sempervirens Fund makes as much money as possible.

The line up for July 9th includes singer-songwriter Amy Obenski, the a fantastic Poet Louis Jackson and mesmerizing jazz singer, Corinne Fimbrez. Plus we will have a couple other short performances by The Poet J.C. and musical artist, Rhythma. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area you will want to be there!

“I’m enjoying talking to people, finding out that a song really made a difference for them, that they could really relate to it,” she told The Daily News.

“Sometimes I get feedback that a particular song helped someone through a difficult experience or meant a lot to them during a certain period of their life. And it’s like, ‘Wow! My song? Pretty cool. I don’t even know you.’”

Obenski knows how to express herself beautifully through song. “Grey’s Anatomy” has used her music. Her latest album, “From The Deep,” displays gorgeous vocals, elegant musicianship, haunting melodies and poetic, profound lyrics.

Like Joni Mitchell, Obenski is an artist who boldly and naturally crosses genre boundaries.

“I don’t try to have a specific sound. I create what I hear, what I like, add the instruments that sound like they’re right for the song. I don’t try to create a cohesive sound, not manufactured in any sort of way.”

Her writing method goes through different phases. “Sometimes I’ll be doing something else, like going for a long walk or driving, and a song pops into my head. Sometimes I get inspired when I go hear my friends play music.

“Sometimes I sit down at my piano and try to come up with something and it can be a bit of a process, trying to get something out. Sometimes I write on guitar. It gives me a lot of
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different ways to get song started. If I can’t write any music, I’ll paint or draw or write poems or do whatever will inspire me creatively.”

Obenski has been writing poetry most of her life. “When I first started writing songs, the lyrical content was coming naturally, flowing. I don’t always even know what I’m writing about until it’s down on paper and then I go back and read it. I wasn’t intentionally trying to be revealing and truthful. As time passes, it just keeps getting deeper.”

A new song, not yet recorded, tentatively titled “Fall To The Ground,” sparks strong audience reactions.

“I was hesitant to sing it for people, because it felt so personal. So I felt really vulnerable. But I sang it anyway and the feedback I got back was very mixed. Some people were made extremely uncomfortable by the song. It was like, ‘It’s too truthful, I can’t deal with it.’

“Other people, it would move them so much that they would be crying. They loved that the song was out there, that someone else feels the same way that they have. I guess the response depends on whether people want that sort of honesty or not.”

Obenski described the song. “It’s about sensing the direction we need to go in our lives, not knowing where we’re headed, but making choices based on what’s true to us, even when it seems like our whole world could fall apart because of our decision. Being scared and making the choice anyway can be courageous.”

It takes courage to choose a career in music. “Obviously, it’s not the easiest thing. But it’s definitely my purpose, if you want to call it that,” she said with a laugh.

Obenski spent her childhood in San Diego, sang in choir at age 5, and studied piano. She moved to Santa Cruz 14 years ago. At UC Santa Cruz, she minored in music while earning a degree in environmental studies. She worked in the environmental field in San Jose and Santa Cruz.

In 2002, a couple of years after graduating, Obenski began writing songs and made the decision to pursue music. She began playing open mic nights at Santa Cruz’s The Poet & The Patriot Irish Pub.

“When you’re first performing, the open mic scene is great, really nurturing. It gives you confidence, allows you to meet people and get used to playing in front of people. How you’re received at those is really important. For me, it was fun and exciting.”

Building a following took hard work. “Getting people to show up can be challenging in an independent musician’s world, figuring out how to get people to come when nobody’s heard of you. You just have to keep at it. At first, it’s just telling your friends and getting your friends’ friends to come. The grassroots word-of-mouth thing starts to happen.

“The other challenge of being an independent artist is doing all the business side, all the publicity, the promotions, the booking, which is not the most desirable part of the job.”

Sometimes fortune smiles on an indie artist. In 2007, “Grey’s Anatomy” used Obenski’s song “Carousel.” MTV’s reality show “MADE” also used her music. She hadn’t submitted material to either. “Both of them were a surprise. It was like, ‘Is this real?’”

Her MySpace hits and iTunes sales soared. Combining her love of music and her passion for the environment, Obenski assembled a successful benefit concert, Take Back Your Forest.

“It was a dream that I’d had and I was excited to actually have it happen. I want to create more of those concerts.”

As for her ongoing musical dreams, Obenski said, “I just want to get my music out to more people, connecting with as broad a base as possible. Right now I’ve got a little niche going on, but I’d like to expand that, take it across the country, to Europe, just keep improving the music, getting more and more to the heart of the matter.

“When someone hears a song and thinks, ‘Wow, I feel the same way, I’m not alone,’ that’s what it’s all about. So the more people I can do that for, the better.”

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Sometimes she’s quiet and reserved, but she’s never at a loss for words. She just keeps them carefully guarded. Santa Cruz singer/songwriter Amy Obenski pours the right words into songs with profound lyrics sung with smooth honey vocals.

“What’s really important to me is in those songs. The stuff I write about is the stuff I’m really interested in—what I really want to talk about,” Obenski said.

Her inspiration stems from an array of genres, including jazz, classical, rock, and R&B. Her latest album, From the Deep, features grand piano, cello, viola, bass drums, mandolin, and accordion.

Her sound hasn’t gone unnoticed.

In 2007, Obenski got an e-mail from a Grey’s Anatomy editor who wanted to use her song “Carousel” in a scene in the show. The editor said the director really liked it, but she didn’t know if
the scene would stay in the episode.

“So I got this e-mail and basically proceeded to run around my house jumping up and down,” Obenski said.

A month later, she had a few friends over to watch the episode. But she was a little cautious. It wasn’t the first time her music appeared on TV. Songs from her first album continue to appear on the MTV reality show Made, but that pairing was ultimately anticlimactic.

“I got a bunch of friends together to watch [Made], and you couldn’t even hear it,” Obenski said. “I watched the show a bunch of times, but I couldn’t find it. So it was nice watching Grey’s Anatomy—it was nice to hear my song.”

That Grey’s Anatomy appearance landed her song at No. 23 on the iTunes folk chart. Such success has been a long time in the making for Obenski.

She’s been involved in music since she was 5 years old. Given the choice of going to science school or music school, music was her obvious path. Growing up in arts-related schools, Obenski focused on choirs and at age 7 began playing piano. She didn’t seriously pursue music, however, until after college. Garnering a degree in environmental studies from UC Santa Cruz, Obenski worked in the field for two years before realizing music is what really makes her happy.

She combines her experiences by creating a series of benefit concerts called “Take Back Your Forest,” which raise money for the Sempervirens Fund, an organization that protects redwood forests in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Obenski tours mostly around the West Coast and plays steadily in the San Francisco Bay Area. She’s performed in notable venues such as Biscuits and Blues in San Francisco and Don Quixote’s in Santa Cruz and has opened for the John Butler Trio in Los Angeles. She’ll be bringing her golden voice to Lompoc’s Southside Coffee on Nov. 14. Obenski first performed to a welcoming crowd there in May.

Currently writing some new songs for another album, Obenski said she’d really like to see her music reach—and impact—a wider audience.

“I just want the music to spread, to get out there to as many people as I can,” she said. “I want it to take on a life of its own.”

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Q When did the light bulb go off, when you said, ‘I must play music’? or How did you start?

AO I’m not really sure when this first happened. But I’ve wanted to sing since I was a very little girl. I wanted to be a famous singer and buy a threatened rain forest. I was very into nature and animals and had pictures posted all over my room from World magazine. I started singing in choir when I was five at my elementary school, and I remember singing Annie’s “Tomorrow” for a family audience when I was maybe four years old.

Q Who is your main influence? What, or who, inspires you?

AO What really inspires me is watching my friends play their music. I have big name inspirations like everyone else. But I find my true inspiration comes after seeing my friends or regular people play like you and me. I think it’s because I can really relate to them, and they aren’t some blown out of proportion rock star on a pedestal. Not that rock stars aren’t regular people, of course they are, but it registers differently for me. I guess I’m just more inspired when I can talk to them before and after, and they are just being themselves.

Q Can you describe your writing process? What comes first-words or music?

AO This changes all the time. Often the words and melody come at once, and then I add the instruments and chord changes afterward. Sometimes I write the instrumental first and then add a melody and words. The melody and words almost always come at the same time. Occasionally, I have a melody and I take a poem I’ve already written and slip it in there.

Q How has the recording process changed the way you work?

AO Wow. This is a big question. I’ve become more of a composer and I think this is due to the recording process. For my first album, my approach was to just record what I had and not put much thought into it. I invited other musicians to come play and just jam out on the recording. But then after seeing how that went, I decided to start taking a more methodical approach. Now I take more time to think about each instruments parts and discuss it with the musicians, as well as composing some of the parts myself. I’m also much more careful with the production of the album, my overall vision, and the quality of the sound.

Q What will you do next, do you think?

AO Well, I’m going to play a lot of shows this year and probably start writing and recording again next year. This is how the cycle goes. Every time the CD Release comes around the response is a little bigger. Really I just want to connect with people, share my music, and hopefully contribute to some folks in a positive way. View entire article