For Santa Cruz singer-songwriter Amy Obenski, making music is all about connecting with people.
“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.”