Amanda Penner Keeps Creativity Burning with "She's A Forest Fire"

The week before Amanda Penner played the Edmonton Folk Music Festival for the first time, she had the impulse to write something new. 

“It was just kind of in my mind,” she recalls. “Before this festival, I'm gonna sit down and I'm gonna write something that changes things for me, and had this vision I was going to play it at the festival. I had no idea what it was—I just had this gut feeling.”

The song Penner crafted, “She’s A Forest Fire”, is now the musician’s first release since her 2019 EP Honey & Heartache, a five-song collection of glowing, radiant folk songs. It builds on her previous work, offering a lush sweep of guitars and tender-hearted vocals that reflect on the complicated nature of being. It’s a perfect match for Gallagher Park in August.

Playing Folk Fest also helped reconnect her with music. Penner, who grew up in St Albert and took part in the Amplify youth arts development program, had spent a few years with her music on the back burner. But getting up on the Festival stage was affirming—one of the few moments in her life where she’s had the feeling she was on the right path.

“Whenever I kind of get that feeling, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna try and trust that and follow that a little bit. [Playing Folk Fest] is definitely the strongest that I have ever felt that in my entire life,” Penner says. “It really gave me the courage to try and commit more of my time to this.”

“I've gone [to Folk Fest] for many years and every time I’m there, I've had moments where I've sat on that hill and looked at the stage and been like, ‘I hope I could do that one day,’” she continues. “The fact that it happened is pretty surreal.”

Penner’s currently planning out a full-length album, and is focused on finding performance opportunities for herself and others. She founded the Toadstool Arts & Music Collective as an opportunity to make space for the women and queer folk who aren’t always made to feel welcome in the broader scene. 

“I've heard a lot of people talking about it over the years, but no one's ever really done anything, so I was like, Okay, well I guess I will,” she says. 

Toadstool’s first show was a women’s showcase at Felice cafe in February, with an upcoming queer artist showcase on March 3rd that will feature visual art from Tess Willette in addition to music from Emmet Michael, Shannon Brown, Keltie Kit Monaghan, and hosted by Penner herself. 

Shortly after that, Penner’s off to Toronto for two months to participate in Canada’s Music Incubator Program, to further hone her knowledge of the industry side of music. 

“I'm very excited for that,” Penner says. “I'm at this point in my career where that is definitely the next step for me.” 

All of which makes for a pretty full slate, she admits. 

“Lots of things,” Penner laughs, of her current schedule. “I'm kinda wondering why I did that to myself, but it's all good stuff. Not complaining one bit.”

Article written by: Paul Blinov

To learn more about Amanda Penner, please visit her website.

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