Amy Speace

Amy Speace is an American singer-songwriter from Baltimore, Maryland who is notable for her critically acclaimed music. National Public Radio described her voice as "velvety and achy" and compared her to Lucinda Williams. She was based in Jersey City, N.J. but moved to Nashville, Tennessee. A former Shakespearean actress, her music has received positive critical attention. Speace's song, "Weight Of The World", was covered by singer Judy Collins on her 2010 album "Paradise". “Amy Speace’s songs hang together like a short story collection, united by a common vantage point and common predicaments…it’s a gift to hear a heart so modest even when it’s wide open,” says legendary rock critic Dave Marsh in his liner notes to Amy Speace’s 5th release, “How To Sleep In A Stormy Boat” (WindBone/Tone Tree). Marsh continues, “It is the most daring, confident, ambitious and beautiful album Amy Speace has made since she began recording.” Speace, once an actress with The National Shakespeare Company, has crafted a document to living gracefully with grief that weaves a most unlikely yet beautifully poetic narrative between her very modern lamentings and the characters in Shakespeare’s plays. The New York Times wrote “For those who argue that poetry is a dying genre, I suggest listening to Amy Speace.” The Tennessean writes, “What Speace says – what she sings -- she says with a confluence of poetry and honesty, of emotional specificity.” And NPR’ “All Things Considered” featured an interview between Jacki Lyden and Amy which aired late April 2013. Although Amy began her creative career in the theater, acting with The National Shakepeare Company and various other classical repertory theaters, she long ago left behind the stage to pursue music full time. Cutting her teeth playing regular gigs at The Living Room and The Bitter End in NYC, she was soon discovered by legend Judy Collins and signed to Collins’ imprint, Wildflower Records, releasing two critically-acclaimed albums. Judy Collins herself recorded Amy’s song, “The Weight of the World,” calling it “one of the best political folk songs I’ve ever heard.” WFUV’s John Platt named that song #4 in his Top 10 Songs of the Decade a few years back. Appearances followed at Mountain Stage, The Philadelphia Folk Festival, The Kerrville Folk Festival, Rocky Mountain Folk Festival and many others. Along the way, she has gained support and praise from such legends as Guy Clark and Nanci Griffith, Ian Hunter and Alejandro Escovedo, an unlikely combination until you hear Amy’s songs. The Houston Press called her “The unconscious cool of Americana,” nodding to the lean poetry of her rootsy folk, an edge possibly learned busking in the subways of NYC, or playing Juliet in parking lot productions of “Romeo & Juliet”. But it’s her voice that catches the audience off guard. A crystal clear voice with an emotional catch and a fluttering vibrato that seems grounded in another era yet somehow speaks to this one. As Mary Gauthier says, "There are voices that serve as a bridge from the past to the future and act as soul connectors, and as a people we need them to keep singing. These voices open hearts with this rare, one in a million quality. Amy Speace has such a voice. Just ask the legendarily discerning Judy Collins; she'll tell you. Amy's got it, and then some. She is a timeless artist, a time traveler. Part past, part future. And that’s a good thing, a really good thing."