Amy Speace Takes the Stage at Iota, Coming to Burlap and Bean This Friday

by Lara Supan

“It was one of those days, you know? Those days where you say ‘at least I get to go do a job that I like doing tonight.’”

Clad in black lace and cowboy boots, Amy Speace took the stage without fanfare and started right into her first piece, “Land Like a Bird.” It was a picture perfect image to start with, Speace playing stark power chords alone on her guitar, singing about “trying to soar when your wings are broken”, and giving the audience a clear image of where Amy was coming from that night. But soon, the grit gave way to a sweet, vulnerability in her next song “Change For Me”, especially when a fan from the crowd started singing audible harmonies with her. The audience was right there with her, drawn in to her masterful lyrics and beautiful metaphors.

“The Fortunate Ones” was next, which is the first song on her new CD, How to Sleep on A Stormy Boat. Speace joked with the audience in the middle of this acoustic anthem, “This is the part where if I played the harmonica like other folk singers do, I’d be playing a really bad harmonica solo.” As Speace plays and records regularly with a full band, there could have been a lot of empty space in her performance, however with her clear, piercing vocals and captivating lyrics the audience wasn’t missing a thing seeing her by herself.

The night flew on one story after another, including “How to Sleep in a Stormy Boat” and“Hunter Moon”, until she got to one of the most stunning stories of the night, “The Sea and the Shore”. She explained how this song started out as a wedding song for her dear friend, but when he heard it halfway through he insisted on being a part of the creation and it took a turn in a different direction. What was born was a riveting metaphorical journey between the sea and the shore, two lovers that were never meant to be together. The last line was the most haunting, after the sea and the shore parted ways, “the shells began their gossiping again.”

Just when we thought we were getting all that Speace was giving, she whipped out her music stand and played two songs new to the stage. She explained that she belongs to a Nashville songwriting group that meets on Mondays so we were being subbed in as a test audience for her new stuff. “You Lonely Night” and “Strange Medicine” proved to be two wonderful new additions, with “Strange Medicine” incorporating a low, raspy part of Speace’s voice we don’t hear in her other songs.

To end the night, she admitted to the audience why she had been in a tizzy before the show. “There’s nothing more dangerous for me than a spinach salad.” She explained, continuing the story about how the leafy vegetable knocked a tooth out earlier that day. “I’ve lost two teeth to greenery.” However it was more than obvious that her place was on the stage, and no amount of green menaces can keep her from what she loves. She ended with “It’s Too Late”, a love story finishing the evening just as it began- with one captivating performer on stage bearing her soul to an intimate audience of beloved fans.

Speace’s next show is on Friday at Burlap and Bean in Newtown Square. Make sure to come experience her beautiful and evocative songwriting and her captivating vocals before she’s gone!