It’s been just over a year since Amy Speace last visited Northern Ireland. Back in early November 2024, she was returning after a ten year absence and the public response in Derry was enough to tempt her back again, this time adding a date in Belfast as part of a short tour of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Amy brings many gifts and her confident, personable manner translates into a stagecraft that is second to none. A very engaging performer and storyteller, Amy has a confidence and a glow about her when she plays and sings, a special quality that is impossible to replicate and not open to any hint of pretence. Her classically-trained voice is both rich and warm, and quite compelling in each of these intimate venues in which she played. When Amy stretches her vocal range the results are powerful, with her technique and tone impressively bright across both performances, each of which included close on twenty songs, across a very generous two-hour show. It’s just Amy, on electric and upright piano, together with her custom-made acoustic Collings (Texas) six-string guitar.
Her stories are so well delivered that you could almost imagine an alternate life as a comedienne, and Amy also recounts tales of her storied career, from her early days in NYC, deciding to forego a promising calling in theatre as a Shakesperean actor, building a fledgling career in a rough and tough music industry, to finally achieving a degree in poetry (Master Of Fine Arts), a professorship in creative writing, releasing a book of poetry, The Cardinals, becoming a mother at the age of fifty, and starting her own 'network of older moms' through her blog, Menopausal Mommy, where she documents her journey as an older mother.
Amy is a complex person, shaped to some degree with the life experiences of younger years that included addiction, a rape during her college years, the decision to have an abortion while living in NYC, divorce, bereavement, and foregoing lasting relationships in favour of a career that has taken her on numerous absorbing journeys and life experiences. There is definitely the dichotomy of the abiding hope and love that emanates from her music, together with past traumas, and the rage that can fester; the twin forces of depression and grief, revisiting relationships in the past, and trying to finish the never-ending jigsaw puzzle that represents a life lived. Amy seeks connection in all things and dealing with a predatory world is something that she has negotiated her whole career as a professional musician and writer.
There is a new album just released, titled the BLUE ROCK SESSION, eleven songs played on acoustic guitar and recorded in just three hours at a songwriting residency in Wimberley, Texas. It’s very stripped back and includes reworkings of three older songs, together with eight new songs. She includes a number of these in her changing set over the two different nights and also plays audience requests, dipping all the way back to her third solo album THE KILLER IN ME, from 2008. There is a sense of cathartic release, of music played almost as a form of therapy, and there can be no doubting what strength there is to be gained from vulnerability, the bravery to sing your truth in order to heal and move beyond.
The Belfast show was at the Crescent Arts Centre, close to Queens University, and the capacity audience gathered in the beautiful space to hear Amy play her superb songs, courtesy of a very impressive sound production on the evening. There were two sets, with the interval presenting a chance to purchase some music from the merch desk and to say hello to Amy. A cover version of the Nanci Griffith song It's a Hard Life (Wherever You Go) was included in the second set and the reference to Belfast in the lyrics not lost on the local crowd.
Amy also included a song Nebraska that has yet to be recorded, and it’s a tune that gives a female slant to counter the male perspective in the classic Springsteen song of the same name. She sang a very witty Christmas song that revolved around a pantomime at her son’s kinder garden school, and First United Methodist Day Care Christmas Show brought plenty of humour and gentle observation in the words. Another song that had the audience fully engaged was It’s Too Late To Call It A Night recounting tales of staying up all night and living life to the full in younger days.
The Derry gig was in St Augustine’s Church, believed to be the site of St Columba’s first monastery, and the sense of reverence was palpable on the evening. Amy again played songs from the new release in addition to relaying a whole new set of stories from her life experiences, with the congregation hanging on every word, all the small details leading to great anecdotes and life lessons learned. She admitted to not being too much of a religious person, rather more spiritual in her outlook, and she commented that the difference between the two was that “Religious people have a fear of Hell, whereas spiritual people have already been there.” Tonight, Amy included Grace Of God in the show, a personal favourite of mine, and one where the message fitted perfectly into the messages of hope and redemption that weave through so much of her music.
Included in the highlights across both nights were wonderful performances of There Used To Be Horses Here; In New York City; Me and the Ghost Of Charlemagne; This February Day; Weight of the World; The American Dream, and The Sea and the Shore. The encore songs included Hymn For the Crossing a co-write with Ben Glover, and he was born in Country Antrim before making a career move to Nashville. Amy finished both nights with another of his songs, titled Kindness, and the words express the perfect sentiment to bring proceedings to a close.
‘May you know goodness, May you know peace, May you know contentment, May you be at ease, May the road before you, Be soft beneath your feet, More than all, May this be true, May you know kindness, May kindness know you.’
Amy Speace is a superbly gifted artist who runs with the wolves. Her creative muse seeks out a universal truth and a leaning for the vagabond life of a gypsy soul. Seek out her music and you too can join the ranks of the converted.
A word for the support act who played in Derry. Singer songwriter Aidan Laird is from Donegal and his five songs were quietly strummed as he captured the essence of the surroundings. He is a gentle soul, speaking of his battle with addiction in younger years and the price paid for his over-indulgence. He has a talent for a simple approach in his songs and included were Monsters In Frocks (abuse in the Catholic church), Little Light, I Wrote This Song For You, and he certainly left a favourable impression on the audience.
Review and photos by Paul McGee