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Amy Speace started 2007 with a bang, winning IMA (Independent Music Awards) The North American Folk Alliance just announced its nominees for the 2007 Folk Alliance Awards and Amy is on the list for Emerging Artist of the Year.
I was introduced to Amy at a fok festival last Fall on the East Coast. It took awhile but her schedule allowed for us connect but finally we were able to talk for a little bit by cell phone. She was leaving a gig in Colorado and heading East for a gig in New Your. She was in the tour bus with her group traveling down the road. Her throat was giving her a problem so I promised not to talk too long so she could rest her voice for the next gig. Upon listening to Amy sing her songs she draws you in. Amy Speace is one of the best singer-songwriters on the circuit today. Go to her web site and check out her songs today!
Kelly Dunn: I see and hear that you new album is going very well!
Amy Speace : It's doing very well!
Kelly Dunn: So you are getting alot of airplay?
Amy Speace : Yep!
Kelly Dunn: So where do you go from here?
Amy Speace : We'll just keep doing what we do, playing new dates, bringing in new songs and start working on my next album.
Kelly Dunn: You have new songs ready for the next album?
Amy Speace : We've been throwing the new songs into the sets.
Kelly Dunn: What do you prefer, playing live or recording?
Amy Speace : I really like playing live. You get that immediate feedback from the audience. That's something you don't get in a studio like singing to a wall. It's a different thing.
Kelly Dunn: What's your favorite song that you have written to date?
Amy Speace : (Laughter) That's not fair! You know they are like my kids! My favorite song to sing is, "Shed This Skin" when my voice is good! (Laughter) I also like, "The Real Thing" and "Double Wide Trailer". But, "Water Landing" is the closest to my heart. I love it when people let me know that they get it. That's the best part. I like it when people find that I'm approachable enough to let me know.
Kelly Dunn: What's your insight to writing great songs?
Amy Speace :Being a good listener to the world. That's where it is. It's story telling and bending the facts a bit. I just walk through the world with a notebook.
Kelly Dunn: That's an excellent comment! I ask that because some artist have a "theme"...kinda like The Who's "Tommy"...
Amy Speace : Once you have a few albums out, and a core audience, I think you can get more conceptual. The way I think of is that I've written a group of songs and now I have a puzzle in front of me. Is there a thread of a story that I can create? That's what I think an album is interesting instead of listening to individual songs, what is the "meta" story running through all these songs on an album.
Kelly Dunn: That's awesome, a great approach.
Amy Speace : I do have a cycle of maybe ten songs running through my head that have aspects of the same theme. I think that kind of thing really feeds me, it's more like play writing. I think it's always important when putting an album together on why you have chosen these songs.
Kelly Dunn: Five, ten years from now where do you see your career?
Amy Speace : Just getting better and better, bigger venues. I'd love to share the stage with the folks that I grew up listening to...
Kelly Dunn: I think you are there! You have an impressive catalog of songs to date...
Amy Speace : Thank you. I seperate my creative brain from my business brain. My business brain is trying to get contacts, get my songs heard by the right people and so on. My creatvive brain is working on creating the best song that I can write right now. I'm trying the write, "The Great American Song"! (Laughter) You know, I have a friend who's a novelist and they just write everyday and I do the same, just trying to write new songs everyday.
Kelly Dunn: I guess it's like turning over dirt, keeping the ideas fresh...
Amy Speace : Exactly.
Kelly Dunn: What's some of your favorite venue's that you have played around the country.
Amy Speace : I played, "The Birchmere" (http://www.birchmere.com/) in Virginia. (Garbled cell phone noises...) "Sorry for the cell phone noise!" I'll be playing at The Kerrville Festival with Judy Collins. (Phone connection is breaking up)
Kelly Dunn: Where do you reside?
Amy Speace : We are based in New York City. We are on the New Jersey side but it's a burrough. A lot of Rock/Alt bands are in this area and it's great.
Kelly Dunn: Do you co-write?
Amy Speace : Yes! I co-write all the time. There are times when I go to Nashville to do some co-writing. I have to schedule it in advance but it's a great time. I also have a small group of people that I co-write over the Internet who send me MP3's with snippets of ideas and I'll work on it to add my ideas. I have written entire songs over the Internet.
Kelly Dunn: It's pretty cool to think that a complete song can get written over the Internet without every meeting the other writers!
Amy Speace : Yes! It's a great tool. I might have a verse/chorus idea and I'll send it to somebody for other ideas. The Internet makes it so easy to send music files to other writers. It's great!
Kelly Dunn: Amy, you've been a trooper today. I hope your voice gets better soon! I hope you write that great American song soon!
Amy Speace : Thanks again Kelly, and please tell everyone at SongwriterPro to check out our web site get a CD and come out and see one of our shows! Take care!
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