Wild Rice Concerts presents:
Amy Speace
"Amy Speace has one of those fetching voices, the kind that taps you on the shoulder and motions seductively for you to follow it around corner after dark corner. You don't know where you're going to end up or how you'll ever find your way back, but that doesn't matter right now: you're enjoying the trip."
Saturday Night March 14th., 2009. 8 P.M.
Blue Bike Burrito, Marinette, WI

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. She's also won considerable critical acclaim, with The Village Voice observing that Speace is "taking her Americana away from twangy contemplation toward tangy confrontation" and noting that she's "not another of those breathy would-be child poets, but a real singing writer of songs." Time Out New York stated, "Amy Speace plays sweet, twangy folk music with a clear voice and an innocent vulnerability," while The Nashville Scene noted that she "balances wry humor with open-hearted honesty." And renowned Nashville critic Robert K. Oermann, writing in Music Row, dubbed her a "new star."

Speace's 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.

After teaching herself to play a $50 pawn shop guitar, Speace began setting her poetry to music. Following a painful breakup, she "got over a depressing summer by writing a slew of songs. Looking back, they were all terrible; I think they were all in the key of D. But I do remember how thrilling it was. I'd acted on stage and in film and written poetry and plays, but when I finally wrote my first song, it felt more exciting than anything I'd ever done."

Bitten hard by the music bug, Speace soon began performing as half of the female acoustic duo Edith O. That twosome released a CD, Tattooed Queen, that received a fair amount of local attention until her then-partner quit to raise a family. Speace continued undaunted, performing as an acoustic solo artist. Her first performance at the historic Village club the Bitter End turned into a monthly gig, followed by a popular residency at the Living Room. In 2002, she released her solo debut, Fable—recorded with $5000 donated by fans—on her own Twangirl label. Giving up her hard-won acting career to embrace music full-time, she hopped into her car and hit the road, booking herself into every club, café and college that would have her.

The artist's D.I.Y. diligence paid off. Her roadwork won her a national audience, and her travels found her sharing stages with the likes of Alejandro Escovedo, Steve Forbert, Lucy Kaplansky, Ricky Skaggs, as well as her future label patron Judy Collins. She's won several notable honors, including awards from the USA Songwriting Competition and the John Lennon Songwriting Contest; she was also named a Finalist in the Kerrville Folk Festival's competition for new artists. She was also featured in Epiphone Guitars' 2005 "Women Who Rock" Calendar. She even emerged as a civic booster of sorts when her song "Why Not Wyoming" caught the attention of that state's tourist department and was featured in its 2004/2005 national TV and radio ad tourism campaign.

By the time Speace began the two-year creative birth cycle that yielded Songs for Bright Street, she'd evolved from her original acoustic sound to focus on a band-oriented electric approach. She'd also moved across the river to New Jersey and began working with producer/guitarist Mastro, whom she'd met when she began frequenting his Hoboken instrumental emporium the Guitar Bar. She first tapped Mastro to produce one track on Fable and to play lead guitar in the Tearjerks, which also includes guitarist Rich Feridun, bassist Matt Lindsey and drummer Jagoda. "It's a really cohesive band, not just the typical singer-songwriter backup band of session dudes," Speace notes.