The Quick Story:

If an inquisitive mind, an open heart, and a beautiful soul took a walk and discussed what it means to Be, their conversation might sound like the music of philosophical folk songstress, Amanda West.

The California based songwriter has been singing since she was born, playing guitar for more than 15 years, and performing for over a decade. Listeners have repeatedly noted she has "the voice of an angel." To accompany her songs, West occasionally plays a light-hearted banjo, a pop-inspired piano, or a tribal West-African djembe, in addition to her ever-steady acoustic guitar. Notable influences include Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, and Loreena McKennitt.

From Ghengis Cohen in Los Angeles to the legendary Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, Amanda West has shared the stage with Nina Storey, Raining Jane, Rebecca Riots, The Bowmans and Megan Slankard, among others. Festival credits include the Santa Cruz River Arts Festival, the San Francisco Free Folk Festival, the Yakima Folk Festival, as well as the Downtown Berkeley Music Festival in 2008 and 2009.

Regularly performing in and around the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Areas, West has been commissioned for work in film, and performances at weddings and other private events. This engaging songstress holds a firm belief in the power of music as an avenue to world peace and interconnectedness. She is an active member of Folk Alliance, and is currently working on her second solo album.



The Longer Version:

From the time she began performing at age 15 at the Freight and Salvage Coffee House open mics in Berkeley, Amanda noticed that when she sang, the invisible walls which usually keep each of us enclosed, softened and sometimes even disappeared. Her curiosity to further explore that experience is at the heart of Amanda's music.

Her mother says that Amanda sang before she talked, and even when she was very small she liked to make up songs, especially in her own version of "Spanish." Amanda does not come from a particularly musical family, though she listened to plenty of her parents' old folks records as a child, and treasures memories of singing around the fire on family camping trips. She was also greatly inspired by the women singer-songwriters of Lilith Fair in the late '90s as well as a few world music groups her mother found on public radio. Notable mentions include Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, and Loreena McKennitt.

Amanda found her way to the guitar at age 11 and began songwriting shortly thereafter with the encouragement of her first teacher. The guitar gave Amanda someone to sing with, and by age 15 she was performing at Freight & Salvage open mics in Berkeley, testing out her "stage legs". She later wrote her college application essay about those Monday evenings so formative in her musical career.

In high school, and then college, Amanda had a band, Walpurgis Night, which dispersed after their self-organized tour into Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. They released one full length album "Live from Amanda's Living Room" in 2000 featuring 12 of Amanda's originals, and then a self-titled EP in 2003, composed of five more of Amanda's songs.

While walking to school her sophomore year of high school, Amanda was hit by a car. The accident sent her black and blue to the hospital with a broken shoulder and a new awakening to the fragility and magnitude of life. Through serendipitous circumstances, this occurrence also led Amanda to her second guitar teacher who was instrumental in further nurturing her songwriting abilities. Another reminder of life’s mysteries came to Amanda during her junior year of college when she was falsely diagnosed with cancer and told she had six months to live. These two events significantly affected Amanda’s awareness of existence and invariably still influence her songwriting today.

After completing a B.A. degree in Anthropology at the University of California in Santa Cruz, the songstress spent her next few years exploring manifestations of the human experience in Europe, Southeast Asia, Central America, and North Africa. She also enjoyed trying on different identities including waitress, baker, truck driver, farmer's market vendor, preschool teacher, office assistant, researcher, anthropologist, writer, and of course, musician.

Returning full steam to the music scene in 2006, Amanda went solo choosing the second name West, for its associations with California, water, sunsets, a time of reflection, and beauty. She released her debut solo album in February 2008. The disc was recorded at Bear Creek Studios in Bonny Doon, CA, and took a year to complete. A compilation of 11 original tunes selected from the past decade of her songwriting, West’s The Way to the Water has received international airplay and garnered rave reviews from fans and critics alike.

The engaging songwriter now plays a steady circuit around the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Areas, enjoying the occasional tour, South, North, and East. She has been commissioned for work in film, and performances at weddings and other private events. She won the Santa Cruz songwriter's contest in 2008 and was invited to Wesleyan College in Connecticut to give a performance and talk on the challenges of producing an independent recording.

Combining her passions for music and women’s social struggles, in August 2009 West co-produced and performed in WOMANSONG – a multi-artist event featuring eight women songwriters benefiting the Monterey County Rape Crisis Center. The festival is planned to become an annual one at the Spirit Garden in Big Sur, CA.

In Fall 2009 Amanda joined Folk Alliance and attended her first regional conference in Irvine California. There she delighted in meeting, befriending, and gathering inspiration & guidance from fellow musicians & performers. For now the 27 year old songstress is staying close to home for her shows as she works on her second solo album, applies to summer music festivals, and gets some life details in order. Her album The Way to Water is available on CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon, and most other online music stores, as well as through www.amandawestmusic.com, and on request at your local record store.