Amy Speace

"Amy Speace seems to have the most reliable muse in Music City and an ear for sonic settings that help her carefully chosen words soar and drift. She got her start as an actor in New York focused on Shakespeare, but some encouragement to sing got her on open mic stages, where she thrived. She’s been a star at folk and roots events for years now thanks to her intimacy, her way with a story and the vibes she shares with icon Judy Collins, who mentored her. Just when we thought she couldn’t be any more vulnerable, she arrived this year with Tucson, an album written largely at a recovery center where Speace confronted some
early life trauma and its long shadows. If a folk artist is supposed to share everything while teaching us something about ourselves, Speace is an exemplar."
- Craig Havighurst/WMOT (10.12) -
https://bit.ly/3Vtr7nX

Heralded by Rolling Stone and Billboard Magazine, Amy Speace is one of contemporary folk and Americana music’s leading voices of the new generation. Lauded by mentors Judy Collins, Tom Paxton and Janis Ian, as well as the songwriting community in Nashville, her songs have been recorded by Judy Collins, Red Molly, Sid Selvidge and others. After 20 years of touring, she has played concerts all across the US and Europe and has graced stages from Glastonbury Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival in the UK, to Rocky Mountain Folks Festival and Mountain Stage (NPR).

She began her career in the iconic folk venues of New York City where she was discovered by Judy Collins and signed to her Wildflower Records label. Relocating to Nashville in 2009, she quickly became embraced by the songwriting community, with regular shows at The Bluebird Café as well as her international touring. In 2020, her song “Me and the Ghost of Charlemagne” was named International Song of the Year by the Americana Music Association UK. Her 2021 release, There Used To Be Horses Here received widespread critical acclaim from Rolling Stone to Billboard. Performing Songwriter gave it 5 out of 5
stars and named it as the #4 release of 2021. Her latest album, Tucson was released on April 8th (Windbone/Proper Records) and sets Speace’s majestic voice to symphonic arrangments, wrapped around her most intimate and emotional record yet.

A “writer’s writer”, she is a published poet, with pieces appearing in 2022’s Spring edition of 2River Review and Euphoia. Her essays have been published in The
New York Times, American Songwriter, & The Blue Rock Review.

"Amy Speace is on a roll. Each new release has brought an expansion of her voice and her art, and she has reached the level of absolute mastery. Folk music doesn’t get any better than this.”
- Mary Gauthier