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| Friday April 04, 2008 |
Event: Amy Speace House Concert
Location: Blacksburg, VA
Time: 7:30PM
Reservations required: yes |
Website: www.amyspeace.com
Feedback: We have heard Amy play several times in both Indianapolis and Austin and are thrilled to be able to bring her to the New River Valley. Please join us this Friday evening. $10 suggested donation.
On her new album Songs for Bright Street, New York-based singer/songwriter Amy Speace demonstrates why she's quickly become one of her adopted hometown's most celebrated emerging artists. Possessing a commanding voice, a distinctive melodic sensibility and an uncanny knack for nailing complex emotions in song, Speace makes music that's both illuminating and effortlessly accessible.
From the rustic rush of "Step Out of the Shade" to the bittersweet lilt of "Water Landing" to the gentle acoustic intimacy of "Two," Songs for Bright Street's 12 original compositions (plus a slyly countrified reading of the Blondie classic "Dreaming") showcase Speace's unique gifts, offering catchy Americana with indelible hooks, sharply observed lyrics and a gritty urban edge. Among those impressed by her sassy songcraft is legendary folk-pop songstress Judy Collins, who chose Songs for Bright Street to release on her new Wildflower label.
Songs for Bright Street was produced by multitalented veteran James Mastro (of Bongos/Health and Happiness Show/Ian Hunter fame) and features Speace's longtime backup combo, the Tearjerks, along with guest appearances by Jayhawks frontman Gary Louris, noted troubadour Cliff Eberhardt and fiddler Soozie Tyrell of the E Street Band.
Amy Speace has already won a loyal grass-roots fan base, thanks in large part to live performances that merge warmth, humor and emotional immediacy, and to a tireless touring schedule that's already taken her across the United States. Her vividly drawn songs reflect the wealth of experience that the artist has packed into her young life. The Baltimore native spent much of her youth in Minnesota and rural Pennsylvania, and studied piano, clarinet and saxophone. While attending Amherst College, she acted in student stage productions while pursuing a passion for opera that led her to study classical voice in New York City. After graduating, she moved to Manhattan, where her acting talents won her a spot with the prestigious National Shakespeare Company (her portrayal of Katherine in Henry V won a rave review from the New York Times) and roles in various off-Broadway production and several independent films. She also wrote and directed plays while running her own theater company in Manhattan's East Village, taught Shakespeare in the New York City school system, temped, waited tables and even did a stint as actress Lainie Kazan's personal assistant. The eloquence of her songwriting makes it easy to understand why Amy Speace traded one established career for the riskier prospect of pursuing her musical muse.
"I loved acting, but I never felt comfortable with the auditioning and the schmoozing," she asserts. "But with music, I never had a problem calling clubs and convincing them to let me play. I never got nervous auditioning, and I loved meeting and talking with other singer-songwriters. It's not that I thought I was any better a songwriter than an actor; it just felt more like me. It's me being me, not playing a part. And to watch the immediate reaction—to feel the audience's response in the moment to my words and my voice—was a gift. To get to go on that journey together is really a thrill ride for me."
"Now, I live in Jersey, right across the river from Manhattan. I have a lovely view of the Statue of Liberty and the new downtown. I have 2 dogs, June and Maybelle, a mother-daughter pair of Bluetick Coonhounds we rescued from a shelter. I tour most of the year, playing in colleges, clubs and cafes all across the country. I love traveling to out of the way places. You won't find me at a Club Med. I like roughing it and finding the cheapest Lumberjack breakfast in every town. I trekked through Southeast Asia with my brother and saw two of the most amazing things: the temples at Angkor Wat and a strip club in Bangkok. I have run the NYC Marathon twice; once I even trained for it. I have a decent backhand and a terrible serve in tennis. I can throw a perfect spiral. I can't balance my checkbook. I am incapable of telling a brief, direct story. I deal in tangents and details."
"I've been called "sassy." Sometimes that's a bad thing. I embrace it as a good thing."
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