Songs of innocence and experience form a poetic musical memoir.
Amy Speace will be familiar to many as the winner of the UK Americana Music Association’s 2020 International Song of the Year Award for ‘Me and The Ghost of Charlemagne’. Written in Aachen, Germany during one of her many European tours, a tiny room backstage prompts an existential debate on her lifestyle, reminiscent of the mundane surroundings that inspired Paul Simon to write ‘Homeward Bound’. A graduate in Creative Writing and Poetry, it’s no surprise that Speace turns out lyrics that are innovative, erudite, witty and insightful. For her longtime fans, this is nothing new but with ‘The American Dream’, her eighth solo album, the quality of her songwriting gives the opportunity to win over a whole new bunch of admirers. With gorgeous string arrangements written by keyboardist Danny Mitchell, the twelve songs weave their way through Speace’s life.
As a small child she was aware of the bicentennial celebrations and presidential election of 1976, coming soon after the Watergate scandal and a disastrous war in Vietnam. So the title-track which opens the record is a mix of nostalgia and hope with a slice of realism, setting the tone of what’s to come. ‘Homecoming Queen’ moves on to the teenage years and a girl based on a High School acquaintance who moved to California, married a drummer and ended up “a footnote in Rolling Stone”. It’s another bitter-sweet look back at old times, as she finds the woman on Facebook and observes without rancour that “No matter how many years go by She still looks like 1985”.
Producer and drummer Neilson Hubbard helped in the writing of ‘Where Did You Go’, a song that pours out all the angst of Speace’s painful separation and divorce. With a sumptuous string arrangement and a heartfelt vocal, a song written in about an hour will linger far longer in the memories of those who hear it.
Moving on chronologically through her life, ‘In New York City’ is a kind of spoken diary, describing life in her 20’s and 30’s as someone who “walked through Manhattan and never got tired”. Studying to be an actor, she wrote poems and learned to love the bohemian life of an East Villager, but returning to the neighbourhood on a tour years later, she discovers that her favourite café has become a chain. Now happily resident in East Nashville, Speace looks wistfully back on those days, describing it as her favourite song written so far.
Co-written with Gary Nicholson, ‘Glad I’m Gone’ has a simple chord structure but the playing is smooth and rhythmic, as Speace focuses on divorce. In the same contemplative mood are ‘This February Day’ and the bluesy ‘Something Bout a Town’, two poetic songs inspired by walking or running alongside rivers.
‘Already Gone’ and ‘I Break Things’ continue the broken relationship theme, interspersed with an amusing tale about Speace’s son’s pre-school Christmas show. A visit to Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam prompted ‘Margot’s Wall’, where Anne’s sister Margot pinned pictures of famous women to a wall in their hiding-place. Drawing a parallel with photos in her own home in the aftermath of separation, the song is a fine vehicle for Speace’s vibrato-rich voice, accompanied by piano and strings.
From childhood through teenage years and adulthood, Speace has charted her life, much attention given to the pain of her divorce. Perhaps not wishing to end on this note, ‘Love Is Gonna Come Again’ brings optimistic closure to an album that is beautifully written and produced.
Great new album, I missed her uk tour though