Singer-songwriter Amy Speace is a committed storyteller, always keeping an eye out for a situation or feeling she can express through her art.
“I’m constantly writing down ideas,” she says. “Like every writer, I carry a notebook with me all the time.”
After college, the Baltimore native moved to New York City and trained with the National Shakespeare Conservatory. She began playing her folk- and country-rock-leaning original songs at coffee shops and small venues around the city while continuing her acting career. Then she caught the ear of Judy Collins, who signed Speace to her Wildflower Records label and released Speace’s 2006 album Songs for Bright Street and 2009 follow-up The Killer in Me.
After moving to Nashville, Speace played an average of 150 shows per year throughout most of the next decade. But while on tour in Europe a couple years back, she started to reconsider what success really meant.
The result is Me and the Ghost of Charlemagne, released in September via Proper Records Group, which features some of her most honest and engaging songs yet. The album is a master class in modern folk-leaning songwriting, confronting difficult issues and subjects. The moving story song “Standing Rock, Standing Here” was inspired by 2016’s Dakota Access Pipeline protests, while “Back in Abilene” looks at the long shadows cast by trauma.
One of the most impactful tracks on the record is “Ginger Ale and Lorna Doones,” an expertly written narrative that puts the listener in the shoes of a woman who has an abortion. Rather than hammering on the tendency for some people to view the topic as controversial, Speace focuses on the human perspective, detailing the room’s glaring fluorescent lights and the bubbly drink the character sips after the procedure.
“I remember hearing a stunning Darrell Scott song about a woman having an abortion, and then there was Ben Folds Five’s ‘Brick,’ ” Speace says of the inspiration for the song. “I just began to wonder if any woman’s going to write about it.”
Speace’s work with the nonprofit Songwriting With Soldiers also exposed her to women grappling with post-traumatic stress, sexual assault and abuse. Hearing their harrowing stories made her think about what things looked like from their point of view.
“I wanted to know: What did that woman see and what did she experience?”
The details of people’s experiences and interactions are the focal point of Speace’s music and art. Since the release of her 2015 LP That Kind of Girl, Speace has gone through several major life changes. She got married and, at the age of 49, became pregnant with a son with help from in vitro fertilization treatments. The recording of Me and the Ghost of Charlemagne and her pregnancy coincided, bringing a new element to her creative process. Speace decided to use her love of writing to help her navigate her pregnancy in a new way: She started a blog called Menopausal Mommy.
“I started writing it as letters to my son, then it became the journey of having the baby,” she explains. “Later it took on this strangely holistic, encompassing thing about my own spiritual journey, plus being an artist. When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, I decided to talk about it, too. It’s kind of been about parenting, while also parenting yourself.”
Along with all of these creative endeavors, Speace also takes time to teach songwriting, performance skills and more through in-person classes and Skype lessons. She sees it as a way to pay it forward.
“I wouldn’t have had my career had it not been for other people ahead of me turning around and giving me advice,” Speace says. “So I kind of want to give that favor back.”
Throughout the 10 years she’s lived in Nashville, Speace has seen more and more friends from Brooklyn and Los Angeles make the move to Music City, which she says is “where all the songwriters end up.” Even as Nashville’s population keeps growing, Speace still sees it as a welcoming melting pot. She hopes to contribute to the collaborative sensibility that she’s found here — something she didn’t find in New York, in spite of its dynamic, creative culture.
“I want to live in a community that supports an artist’s life — not just the stardom part, but the lifestyle,” she says. “And I feel like Nashville is like that. It supports creativity as a worthwhile thing to spend your time doing.”
As she continues to tour and enjoys spending time with her newly expanded family, Speace simply hopes that listeners are able to connect with the work she’s created during this new chapter.
“I want people to put themselves in the record. I just hope it moves them.”
