The Songwriter Series presents: Amy Speace

The Songwriter Series presents: Amy Speace

Doors/Bar 6:30 pm
Show 7:00 pm

Born in Baltimore, Speace started her creative career in the theater. She studied classical acting in New York City after graduating from Amherst College and then spent a few years rushing from Lower East Side theater rehearsals to film and commercial auditions to many support jobs which ranged from legal secretary to personal assistant for actress/singer Lainie Kazan. After a spectacular breakup with a boy in a rock band, she bought a cheap guitar and started putting her poetry to music and began appearing at local folk clubs like The Sidewalk Cafe, The Bitter End and The Living Room. She was discovered by Judy Collins in 2005, releasing her debut in 2006 on Collins’ Wildflower Records, “Songs For Bright Street” to rave reviews. “The Killer In Me” was released in 2009 with NPR comparing her to a young Lucinda Williams. She moved to Nashville from NYC in 2011, releasing “Land Like A Bird” on the Thirty Tigers label. Her song “The Weight of the World”, which Judy Collins has called “one of the best political folk songs I’ve ever heard” was named as the #4 Folk Song of the Decade by NYC’s premiere AAA radio station WFUV. In 2013, she received the best reviews of her career with "How To Sleep In A Stormy Boat,” a song cycle inspired by Shakespearean characters, winning 4 stars from Mojo Magazine and a feature on NPR’s “All Things Considered”. Rock critic Dave Marsh, who contributed the album's liner notes, wrote "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." Her songs have been recorded by Judy Collins, Red Molly, Memphis Hall of Fame blues artist Sid Selvidge and others. In 2016, Gearbox Records will release “Applewood Road,” a collaboration between Amy, UK-based Emily Barker and Amber Rubarth.