Bekah Barnett - the urban minstrel
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Bekah Barnett is a singer/songwriter in the Bay Area tantalizing audiences with poetic lyrics, soaring melodies, and toe-tapping piano riffs. Her carefully crafted tunes wander from humorous and upbeat to mournful and haunting and everywhere in-between. Her lyrics are simple, honest, and smart. One can pick up hints of Tori Amos, Regina Spektor, or Natalie Merchant in her sound and style, but there is something else at work that is entirely her own: a unique and ineffable something that is present in every song.
Bekah grew up in Santa Cruz, CA, with the nearby ocean as a constant companion and source of inspiration. In addition to the sounds of waves, her childhood home was filled with music. Her mother would harmonize with Joni Mitchell and her father had a knack for making up songs on the spot. As a young girl, Bekah was inspired by songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Carole King, Carly Simon, and James Taylor, and dreamed of writing songs of her own. But it wasn’t until she attended Mills College that she began to spend time at the many pianos littered across campus. As she practiced her fledgling attempts, passerby would stop and listen. Planning to major in English, she was quickly lured into the Music Department, where she studied classical and operatic voice. Pursuing this dream she ended up spending a year at a conservatory outside of Florence.
These days, Bekah can be found performing in front of enthusiastic audiences at various spots around the City and in the East Bay, including the Freight and Salvage, the Dolores Park Café, the Hotel Utah, Café Trieste, and the Bazaar Café. She has written two songs that are featured in the documentary Corpus Christi: Playing with Redemption by 108 productions, and is currently working on her debut full-length album, Find Shelter Here at Cry Love Studio.
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