Amy Speace - Songs For Bright Street (2006)

Amy Speace isn't the innocent, sweet-looking folkie girl with a guitar she might appear to be. She grew up on Hank, Patsy, Waylon, Willie and Johnny, has a fluid, crystal clear voice that can soar and growl, writes a pretty hummable tune, and is backed by one of the best damn bands around.

It took a few years on the folk scene to figure out that she liked her music with tequila and whiskey, rather than wine spritzers. So she put down the Taylor, picked up the Gibson, put together her hotshot band, 'The Tearjerks', with dueling guitar players James Mastro (The Jayhawks, Ian Hunter, Health & Happiness Show), handling the rock, and Rich Feridun, chicken-picking like no man from Jersey should, rounded out by Brooklyn bass player, Matt Lindsey and drummer-about-town Jagoda.

With the band in tow, she slung down some pretty fine Cuervo, recorded one CD with the next on the way, and has been playing her Americana/rock from the Rodeo Bar and the Lakeside, all the way up and down the East Coast. She spends a bit of time in Nashville, writing the country stuff too, but she's no powder-puff country pop gal. Think Shelby Lynne, Lucinda with a sweeter voice, a bit of Allison and early Linda Rondstadt. She's got an endorsement deal with Epiphone Guitars and landed a spot in their 2005 "Women Who Rock" Calendar, alongside Joan Osborne and Gretchen Wilson.

What I find impossible to believe is that I have not heard of Amy Speace before now. To think that an album like Songs For Bright Street has been out on the market for two full years and has not been written up/played/trumpeted on every available bit of popular media is unthinkable. Amy Speace is an inimitable talent, and Songs For Bright Street is a masterpiece.

Let’s get the comparisons out of the way. Yes, there is a vocal resemblance to Rosanne Cash, but as a songwriter Amy Speace is non-pareil. Delving into the heartbreak and melancholy of country music with a folk/rock sensibility and a class and reserve reflective of the best of Alison Krauss, Amy Speace has created an album full of classic tunes that cannot be ignored or denied.

Note from yLe: I saw this gal perform with Anthony da Costa at her side this summer and I felt the same way as the reviewer above...."What I find impossible to believe is that I have not heard of Amy Speace before now!"

Track List:

01 - Step Out of The Shade
02 - Water Landing
03 - Not The Heartless Kind
04 - Two
05 - Shed This Skin
06 - The Real Thing
07 - Make Me Lonely Again
08 - Dreaming
09 - Row Row Row
10 - Right Through To Me
11 - Can't Find A Reason To Cry
12 - Double Wide Trailer
13 - Home

Download includes HQ scanned artwork