"I had been to New York City once, in college," Arnau said. "I had a great time. I came up with friends. But when I moved up here, it was just so lonely. It was incredibly lonely. It's such a big city. My first night, after my mom left, I thought I made a doozy of a mistake. I was scared."
Arnau's parents helped her pay the rent and she got a job - working the overnight shift at The Gap, folding clothes and cleaning up, all night long.

"I was really not just green, but kind of ignorant," Arnau said. "I didn't really know of places where people played or where things happened and I wasn't around people who were interested in that. For a long time, I didn't realize there was CBGBs or The Wetlands. I didn't get any of that. That took a while. I was really slow on the uptake getting my music working."

Everything turned around for Arnau when she moved, uptown to downtown.

More than a decade later, she has released a record, "Mt. Pleasant," produced by Grammy-winner Trina Shoemaker, who has worked with Sheryl Crow, Queens of the Stone Age and Emmylou Harris. Two tracks were mixed by Stephen George, who has worked with Mary J. Blige and R. Kelly.
Arnau, who still lives in Manhattan, is set to perform in Woodstock Wednesday at the Colony Cafe.

"I really love it up there," she said of the Hudson Valley, Saugerties and Woodstock in particular. "I kind of, in the long run, would like to move up there."

Arnau's voice shifts from quiver to bellow, revealing her southern roots, but evoking San Francisco psychedelia, a la Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane. She comes across as vulnerable and assertive, flaunting an in-your-face attitude, much like Grace Potter, but never shedding her delicate, feminine side.

You can check out Arnau's live performance in Woodstock and see what she has already brought to some pretty big venues - Arlene's Grocery in Manhattan, the Mercury Lounge in Manhattan, World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, Sullivan Hall during the Green Apple Festival, the Wakarusa Festival and Floyd Fest.

Arnau has been carving out a career, after pounding some pavement. And you really have to respect that.

That move, from uptown Manhattan downtown, seems to have really shaped this singer-songwriter.