AMY SPEACE
Heralded by Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Billboard Magazine and NPR’s
“Weekend Edition,” Amy Speace was discovered in 2005 by Judy Collins, who signed
her to her record label and released her debut “Songs For Bright Street” on her own
Wildflower Records. Judy championed Amy early in her career, taking her on the road
with her and recording her song, “The Weight of the World,” calling it one of the best folk
songs she’d heard in decades.
Amy had been living and playing the NYC downtown coffeehouse scene, having moved
to NYC after Amherst College to study classical acting. In the mid-1990’s, she co-
founded Five Points Theater Company, which produced works of unknown plays by
voices out of the demographic of the lower east side, introducing work by Hispanic and
African American authors, as well as new versions of Shakespeare’s plays recasting
them in the voices of the immigrant experience. A classically-trained singer (she almost
went to Eastman Conservatory, but wanted to be a writer as well as a singer, and didn’t
want to commit to opera at the time) and a long time musician and poet, she picked up
a used guitar in a pawn shop on St. Mark’s Place and learned a few chords from the
“boyfriend in a band.” After writing only a few songs, she was invited to play a gig at The
Bitter End by Kenny Gorka who’d heard her and compared her to Joan Baez.
In 2009, Amy relocated to Nashville after signing a record and management deal with
Thirty Tigers and has since, released 8 critically-acclaimed records, most in
collaboration with Grammy- nominated producer/songwriter Neilson Hubbard. “The Blue
Rock Session,” her 10 th solo album, was released in December 2025 and reached #1
immediately on the Folk Radio Charts, as did her previous three albums.
She’s the 2020 winner of the AMA UK’s International Song of the Year for her song, “Me
and the Ghost of Charlemagne.” She has been featured on NPR’s “Weekend Edition”
and in a segment for “Marketplace.” Craig Havighurst of Nashville’s WMOT radio calls
her “Sublime and inimitable…Speace has been one of [Nashville’s] premiere folk artists
of the last decade.” Amy has played many festivals around the world, including Rocky
Mountain Folks Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Glastonbury Music Festival, legacy
stages like The Grand Ole Opry and The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and is a
favorite of “Mountain Stage Radio.”
A well-respected writer, she’s had essays published in The New York Times, No
Depression, Working Mother Magazine, Salon.com and leads workshops in songwriting
and performance. Her forthcoming debut collection of poetry, The Cardinals, will be
published by Red Hen Press on September 1, 2026. In 2025 she published To The
Performer: A Handbook for Singer-Songwriters. She holds an MFA in poetry from
Spalding University.
SHORTENED BIO
A modern folksinger whose music nods to the genre’s 1970’s glory days, Amy Speace is
considered one of the great contemporary singer-songwriters. Heralded by Rolling
Stone, The New York Times, Billboard Magazine and NPR’s “Weekend Edition,” Amy
Speace was discovered by Judy Collins, who signed her to her record label and has
recorded her song, “Weight of the World.” Amy’s latest 3 releases all debuted at #1 on
the Folk DJ Charts. “What Amy Speace says – what she sings – she says with a
confluence of poetry and honesty, of emotional specificity” – Jon Pareles, The New York
Times.
BLURB BIO A modern folksinger whose music nods to the genre’s 1970’s glory days, Amy Speace is considered one of the great contemporary singer-songwriters. “What Amy Speace says – what she sings – she says with a confluence of poetry and honesty, of emotional specificity” – Jon Pareles, The New York Times.
BLURB BIO A modern folksinger whose music nods to the genre’s 1970’s glory days, Amy Speace is considered one of the great contemporary singer-songwriters. “What Amy Speace says – what she sings – she says with a confluence of poetry and honesty, of emotional specificity” – Jon Pareles, The New York Times.
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