Anastacia Beth Scott

Think of Anastacia Beth Scott's music as water.

With nothing to hold it in place, water will run wherever it can. It will find whatever channels happen to present themselves, following the laws of gravity and the path of least resistance.

Scott has been writing songs since she was a child, but she's only been writing songs for public consumption for a couple of years. And over those couple years, she has let her music out in a stream of consciousness, paying little attention to style.

"I was so adamant on doing my music my way," Scott said over tea a while back. "Well, I kind of got rid of that, and it was like, 'I'm ready to check out music now.' Usually it's the opposite for musicians. "A lot of musicians (hear) other people's music and develop their own. I was the opposite. My music was more (like) journaling," she said. "I would say to myself, 'How does this feeling sound?' And I made up chords. So for me, I'm kind of going the other way. Now I really want the know the roots."

Think of other people's music as a cup. Neil Young. Lucinda Williams. Gillian Welch.

Scott studies those cups — among the greatest roots-rockin' cups of the past few decades — on a daily basis in her home studio. She listens to lyrics and melodies and song structures. She reads books of poetry. She absorbs it all.

The idea, at least for now, is to use the cups to keep the water in one spot.

"If you have a cup," Scott said, "people can drink from it."

Welcome to the world of Anastacia Beth Scott, a Sisters-based singer-songwriter who'll perform Saturday at the Sisters Folk Festival. It's a world where short attention spans and an artist's spirit clang against a desire for focus and an intense devotion to improving one's craft.

It's kind of like watching someone wrestle with the transition between adolescence and adulthood.

And in a way, that's exactly what Scott, 41, is doing. As a songwriter, at least.

A few years ago, while watching Williams perform at the Athletic Club of Bend, Scott had a revelation: She was ready to play music for other people. So she began writing music to play for other people. She partnered with her father, Joe Leonardi, in a band called Threes that was very good but also short-lived.

At the time, Scott was a newborn songwriter, with only a few tunes under her belt. She calls her time in Threes "like high school."

When that band split, Scott went solo. "I went off to college," she said.

And she kept writing. She spent an "emotionally charged" summer of 2008 caring for her ill mother and recording her new album, "Grains Of Sand," in Aptos, Calif. It's a varied album of vintage-sounding, rootsy indie-pop, where each song "is its own world," Scott said.

"It was all about keeping it very simple and spacious," she said. "I wanted it to have some meditative qualities, like you can listen to it and relax a little bit."

Now, Scott's songwriting self is navigating those wide-eyed, unsettled post-college years, torn between settling down and seeing everything there is to see. Recently, she's been knee-deep in traditional music and Americana and old-school blues, catching up on artists she never listened to growing up. She's also taken up the banjo.

"I want to be the best musician I can be and the best songwriter I can be," Scott said, "so I've been really hungry."

Her lyrics are changing too, becoming a little less personal and a little more observational.

"Now, the outside world is so important to me, whereas before, I was processing the inner world," she said. "I feel like I'm maturing lyrically."

It all seems to point toward a songwriter who is finding the style that suits her best, although there's undoubtedly more exploration to come.

"I still don't know exactly who I am musically, but I feel it's kind of moving more in an individual direction," Scott said. "I'm still kind of all over, but I'm trying to stay anchored so I don't keep spilling the glass of water. But maybe that's just me. Maybe I'm a spiller." - GO! Magazine - Ben Salmon

The region got its first taste of Anastacia’s Grains of Sand this winter when she and her band won the Source’s music video contest for the album’s title track and now it seems the full release keeps the soulful energy of that cut going for the entirety of its 12 tracks.

The local singer-songwriter (full name: Anastacia Beth Scott) produced the album with Tim Prince at his Aptos, Cali. studio using a hand-picked group of NorCal musicians and the result is a smooth-flowing folk and pop record. For the most part, Grains of Sand proves softer than what you may have heard when she’s playing live with her band of locals here in Central Oregon, but nonetheless strong.

At times, Anastacia sometimes hits a modern folk rock thread that’s not too far from the latest Jenny Lewis cuts (check out her cover of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “We’re All in This Together” for proof) but also proves supremely soulful on songs like “Burn the Bridge.” Although the musicianship is top-notch throughout the album, it’s Anastacia’s vocals that truly carry the disc. On “Behind Dry Eyes,” her voice soars above the cascading organ chords and bouncing guitars, telling a bittersweet story—one of many that can be found on the album. And the title track is not to be lost in the mix, providing a refreshing mid-record punch.

With Grains of Sand, Anastacia shows herself as a dedicated musician and one who stands out in our region’s singer/songwriter arena. With strong production, a concept that weaves itself through the record and, again, an excellent voice, the album is clearly one of the region’s best for 2009.
- The Source Weekly - Mike Bookey