New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) On April 16, Amy Speace releases her new album, 'How to Sleep in a Stormy Boat,' on Wind Bone Records. This 11-song set, also available with a six-song
Deluxe Edition bonus EP, was produced by Neilson Hubbard and features collaborations with John Fullbright, Ben Sollee, and Mary Gauthier. Speace describes it as "intimate & epic, orchestral & acoustic," and Dave Marsh, who wrote the album's liner notes, calls this "the most daring, confident, ambitious and beautiful album Amy Speace has made since she began recording."
NPR has lauded Speace's "velvety, achy voice" - but in 2011 she almost lost that voice for good from a case of acute laryngitis. As the storms of life raged, songwriting was her ballast and salvation, and she reached back to her roots in the
National Shakespeare Company for inspiration. "I went back to read [Shakespeare's] plays and found this very modern lamenting of love, lust, longing, denial, betrayal, rage, sorrow - everything I was wrestling with myself, feeling isolated and lost: the madness of the dream," she says.
The songs of 'How To Sleep in a Stormy Boat' come together like a short story collection, united by a common vantage point and common predicaments: in this case, catastrophes of the heart that persist long past their expiration date. For the tender duet "The Sea and the Shore," Speace recruited Grammy-nominated Oklahoma songwriter John Fullbright. "For a younger artist, he is wise beyond his years, and has this world weary quality that I thought would fit the song perfectly," she says. The title track, "How To Sleep in a Stormy Boat," presents a prayer for peace during emotional tumult. "I was thinking about King Lear a lot while writing this song," says Speace. "His storms were internal - his most beloved (his daughters) were turning against him, and he was going mad, and he ends up desperately raging against a literal storm."
Born in Baltimore and now living in Nashville, Speace was the first artist signed to Judy Collins' label (Collins later covered one of her songs) and has toured with Alejandro Escovedo, Guy Clark, Ian Hunter, and Nanci Griffith. Her headlining spring tour includes stops in NYC (4/16 at Joe's Pub),
Chicago (4/27 at Old Town School of Folk Music), and Nashville (5/1 at
Music City Roots). Full dates below.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/av/2013/02/song-premiere-amy-speace---how-to-sleep-in-a-storm.html
'How to Sleep in a Stormy Boat' Tracklist
01. The Fortunate Ones
02. Lullabye Under the Willow
03. How to Sleep in a Stormy Boat
04. The Sea & the Shore (w/ John Fullbright)
05. In Salida
06. Bring Me Back My Heart
07. Hunter Moon
08. Left Me Hanging (w/ Mary Gauthier)
09. Perfume
10. Feathers & Wishbones 11. Hesitate
Deluxe Edition EP Tracklist
12. Hurricane
13. The Letter
14. Same Old Storm
15. Memphis
16. Stark As Stone
17. The Sea & The Shore (solo)
Amy Speace 2013 Tour Dates:
2/12 - Rockville, MD @ UU Congregation of Rockville *
2/13 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live *
2/14 - New York, NY @ Rockwood
Music Hall *
2/15 - Sharon, MA @ Sharon House Concert *
2/16 - Cambridge, MA @ Ryals House Concert *
2/17 - Montclair, NJ @ The Art Garage *
2/19 - Ann Arbor, MI @ Rose-Marchall House Concert *
2/20-23 - Toronto, ON @ Folk Alliance
3/13-16 - Austin, TX @ SXSW
3/20 - Nashville, TN @ The Bluebird Café
3/27 - Anedaw, SC @ Sewee Outpost/Barn Jam
3/28 - Greenwood, SC @
Music On Maxwell
4/04 - Oklahoma City, OK @ The Blue Door +
4/05 - Dallas, TX @ Uncle Calvins Coffeehouse +
4/06 - Austin, TX @ The Cactus Café +
4/07 - Houston, TX @ Mucky Duck's +
4/11 - Cambridge, MA @ Passim (cobill w/Chuck Brodsky)
4/12 -
Saratoga Springs, NY @ Caffe Lena
4/13 - Park Ridge, NJ @ Our Lady of Mercy School
4/14 - Honesdale, PA @ The Cooperage %
4/16 - New York, NY @ Joe's Pub [CD Release Show]
4/19 - Newtown Square, PA @ Burlap & Bean %
4/20 - Roanoke, VA @ Kirk Avenue
Music Hall %
4/21 - Morgantown, WV @ WVU Creative Arts Center (Mountain Stage)
4/24 - Ann Arbor, MI @
The Ark %
4/26 -
Spring Lake, MI @
Seven Steps Up Center %
4/27 - Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Folk
Music %
4/28 - Goshen, IN @ Ignition
5/01 - Nashville, TN @
Music City Roots
5/08 - Knoxville, TN @ The Preservation Pub
5/09 - Nashville, TN @ The Bluebird Café (CD release show)
5/18 - Richardson, TX @ Wildflower Art and
Music Festival
5/27-30 - Kerrville, TX @ Kerrville Folk Festival
* w/
Angel Snow
+ w/ Rod Picott
% w/ The Sea The Sea
Amy Speace on the Web:
https://www.amyspeace.com/
https://www.facebook.com/amyspeace/
https://twitter.com/amyspeace/
