ABOUT / EPK

AMY SPEACE (by Lee Zimmerman)

5/5 stars - American Songwriter Magazine!
4/4 stars - Mojo Magazine!
9/10 stars - Americana-UK

Amy Speace is a wonderful artist, a writer of songs, a performer who has beauty and transformation in her music and her writing. Amy Speace was one of the first people that I chose to sign to my label, Wildflower Records, and her songs have transformed my audiences as well as transformed my life.”

— Judy Collins

 As her friend, mentor and collaborator, Judy Collins, makes clear, Amy Speace is one of the most emotive and inspiring singer/songwriters who’s making music today. A listen to any of her remarkable recent albums — Me and the Ghost of Charlemagne (2019), There Used To Be Horses Here (2021), Tucson (2022), and her latest, The American Dream (2024), makes that declaration all the more conclusive. Her passion, purpose, drive, and delivery make it clear that she’s an artist that possesses both instinct and imagination. She draws on raw emotion, but she articulates it in a way that affirms both her resolve and resilience.

 Even so, there’s much more to Amy’s career than that of simply being an outstanding artist. She’s also displayed her talents as a theatrical actor, director and producer, while also sharing both her skills and savvy as a college educator, workshop leader, author, and entrepreneur. Her efforts embrace what it means to go well beyond making music by inspiring others to pursue their own craft and creativity, while setting an example of what can be attained courtesy of her own singular standard.

 As an artist, Amy pursued her ambitions early on, first as a budding performer frequenting the folk clubs and coffee house of Greenwich Village in the late ‘90s. Her big break came when she was discovered by Judy Collins in 2005, and then subsequently signed to Ms. Collins’ record label Wildflower Records. Ms. Collins then selected Amy as her opening act on tour, giving her the opportunity to be introduced to Ms. Collins’ own audiences. Amy’s two initial albums for Wildflower Records, Songs For Bright Street and The Killer In Me garnered exceptional reviews and the benefit of international distribution.

From then on, Amy’s career has continued at an unbounded pace. Signed to Thirty Tigers Records in 2009, she moved to Nashville where she was promptly embraced by the city’s storied songwriting community. Her subsequent releases — Land Like A Bird (2009) and How To Sleep In A Stormy Boat (2013) brought her added attention, and the momentum continued when she started her own label. After releasing That Kind of Girl (2014) independently, she was signed to Proper Records in the UK where she gained worldwide distribution for the album that followed, the critically acclaimed Me and the Ghost of Charlemagne upon its release in 2019.

 The kudos continued when the title track was named “International Song of the Year” at the Americana UK Association awards the following year. So too, her efforts with other artists elevated her stature as well. Storied producer Neilson Hubbard has helmed her projects for the past 15 years. Amy also played an intrinsic role in the making of the eponymous debut album by the supergroup of sorts, Applewood Road.

 In addition, Amy’s performed at such prestigious venues as the Glastonbury Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival, Rocky Mountain Folks Festival, and the Philadelphia Folk Festival, among the many. She’s been featured on the BBC, multiple times on “Mountain Stage,” as well as on NPR’s “Weekend Edition.” Billboard, Rolling Stone, Mojo, and Performing Songwriter have all hailed her ability to convey emotion and empathy with equal emphasis. It’s little wonder, then, that Amy’s songs have been recorded by a great number of artists, Judy Collins, Christine Lavin, Red Molly, and Blues Hall of Famer Sid Selvidge, among them.

 Indeed, the critical comments Amy’s garnered over the course of her career attest to her prolific prowess. The New York Times raved, “What Amy Speace says - what she sings - she says with a confluence of poetry and honestly, of emotional specificity.” Billboard concurred, stating, “Amy Speace stuns on title track of her new album.” So too, Folk Radio in the UK declared, “Once again, Speace demonstrates why she’s one of the greatest artists in Americana today.”

Mary Gauthier, a superb singer/songwriter in her own right summed things up succinctly when she said, “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.”

As a writer, Amy displays the same prolific prowess. She attained her MFA in Creative Writing in June 2024 and subsequently wrote a manuscript consisting of her poetic works for her thesis. It will be published by Red Hen Press (date tba). As well, Martin Literary Agency currently represents Amy for her memoir Menopausal Mommy. She has been published in The New York Times, Salon.com, No Depression, Working Mother, The Blue Rock Literary Review. Her poetry has been published in Eonia and 2River Review.

 This past summer, Amy wrote another book, To The Performer: A Singer-Songwriter’s Handbook. It too illuminates Amy’s abilities while also offering tips and techniques for budding singer/songwriters. In addition, it offers lessons on public speaking, To her credit, copies have sold out at every conference where she’s been invited to speak.

  As an educator and instructor, Amy’s taught songwriting and performance at The Rocky Mountain Folks Festival Song School for the past 20 years. She’s developed her own method of teaching performance and has conducted Master Classes at Berklee College of Music and other prestigious universities. In addition, she’s taught at the Kerrville Folk Festival Song School, the Sisters Folk Festival, the Americana Song Academy, and various others. What’s more, she’s conducted a class on performance at the International Folk Alliance Conference and at other regional conferences as well. That’s in addition to participating in any number of conference panels related to the music business, touring and women in the industry.

Amy is currently a part-time instructor of English at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee.

In addition to her classroom teaching, Amy expanded her instructional outreach to include her “Songs From The Well” weekend songwriter retreats which began in 2012 and then continued every year until Covid forced her to take a hiatus. “They were all sold out,” she says. “I am in the planning stages of creating weekend workshops here in Nashville that will focus on performance. I also plan to rebrand ‘Songs from the Well’ as ‘Writing From the Well’ while also offering lessons on “Writing Through Trauma and Change” and also creating other writing retreats that I’ll initiate in the Spring of 2025.

Amy’s theatrical experience began in earnest early on. After her college studies concluded, she moved to New York City to study classical acting for two years at the National Shakespeare Conservatory. Upon graduation, she founded her own Off-Off Broadway Theater Company, the Five Points Theater Co., where she became Artistic Director and directed many of its productions, among which were several little-known works that focused on the Hispanic and Black community in the neighborhood where the theater was based. The initiatives also included a school outreach program that offered lessons in playwriting, directing and acting, in addition to inviting local children to participate in internships.

Amy herself was an acting member of Expanded Arts Theater Company, which produced the critically-acclaimed summer series “Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot.” She also participated in various Off-Off and Off-Broadway shows and regional theater productions, mostly centered on  classical repertoire. 

 In total, Amy can rightfully be called a renaissance woman, an artist whose craft and creativity know no bounds. Few artists can claim such verve and versatility, qualities that affirm her singular talent and tenacity. 

EPK

SHORT BIO

Heralded by Rolling Stone, Billboard Magazine and The New York Times and featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered”, Amy Speace was discovered by Judy Collins, who signed her to her record label and has recorded her songs. She’s the 2020 winner of the AMA UK’s International Song of the Year. Her newest record, “The American Dream,” was released October 18th and became the #1 record and the title track was named #1 song in the FAI Radio Charts for its first month out.  As well, Amy graduated with an MFA in poetry in May and is a professor of creative writing at Cumberland University. This summer, she published, “To The Performer: A Singer-Songwriter’s Handbook” based on her 20 years of teaching performance.  

Discography

1998: Tattooed Queen, Edith O (Amy Speace & Erin Ash). Self produced. Recorded in Hoboken, NJ
2002: Fable (Self Release). Produced by John Abbey. Recorded in Brooklyn, NY
2006: Songs For Bright Street, Wildflower Records. Produced by James Mastro. Recorded in Hoboken, NJ
2009: The Killer In Me, Wildflower Records. Produced by James Mastro. Mixed by Mitch Easter. Recorded in Greensboro, NC
2011: Land Like A Bird, Thirty Tigers. Produced by Neilson Hubbard. Recorded in Nashville, TN
2013: How To Sleep In A Stormy Boat, Thirty Tigers. Produced by Neilson Hubbard. Recorded in Nashville, TN
2015: That Kind Of Girl, WindBone/Tone Tree. Produced by Neilson Hubbard. Recorded in Nashville, TN
2016: Applewood Road (Applewood Road), Gearbox Records. Produced by Speace, Barker, Rubarth. Recorded in Nashville, TN
2019: Me And The Ghost Of Charlemagne, Proper Records Group. Produced by Neilson Hubbard. Recorded in Nashville, TN
2021: There Used To Be Horses Here, Proper Records Group. Produced by Amy Speace & The Orphan Brigade. Recorded in Nashville, TN
2022: Tucson, Proper Records Group. Produced by Neilson Hubbard. Recorded in Nashville, TN
2024: The American Dream, Windbone Records. Produced by Neilson Hubbard. Recorded in Nashville, TN

Appears On…

2016: Applewood Road, Applewood Road, Gearbox Records (UK)
2013: Decembersongs: An East Nashville Holiday Album (w/ Wild Ponies, Rod Picott)
2010: I Should Be Blue, Sid Selvidge, Archer Records. Recorded in Memphis (duet record)
2009: Decembersongs (w/ Jon Vezner, Sally Barris, Dan Navarro)
2008: Born To The Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins, Wildflower Records (song: “Born To The Breed”)

Songs Recorded By Other Artists

”The Weight of the World” (Speace/Vezner/Caswell) - Judy Collins
”It’s Too Late To Call It A Night” (Speace/Byrd) - Red Molly, Jonathan Byrd
”Make Me Lonely Again” (Speace) - Red Molly
”Two” (Speace) - Sid Selvidge
”Father To The Man” (Speace/Lenker) - Korby Lenker
”The Man I Want To Be” (Speace/Freeman) - Jamie Freeman
”Uncomplicated” (Speace/Glover) - Ben Glover
”War To Believe (All This Time)” (Speace/Glover) - Ben Glover
”Born With A Broken Heart” (Speace/Williams/Williams) - Wild Ponies
”Adagio” (Speace/Prasada-Rao) - Tom Prasada-Rao, Lisa Markley

Videos

Links

Website: amyspeace.com
Facebook: facebook.com/realamyspeacemusic
Twitter: twitter.com/realamyspeace // @realamyspeace
Instagram: instagram.com/amyspeace // @amyspeace
YouTube: youtube.com/amyspeace
Patreon: patreon.com/amyspeace