By Paul T. Mueller –
Amy Speace is a keen observer of humanity, and of all the good and bad humans are capable of. She’s also a gifted songwriter and performer, able to translate her observations into beautiful and moving songs. Speace’s latest collection is titled Me and the Ghost of Charlemagne, and it’s full of the excellent writing and singing we’ve come to expect from this New Yorker turned Nashvillian.
The title track is a description of the traveling musician’s life, drawn from Speace’s experiences and using the aftermath of a show in Aachen, Germany – said to have been the birthplace of the medieval German emperor – as a jumping-off point. Amid the architectural remnants of centuries of European history, Speace reflects on her hopes for her own legacy. “We all want to leave behind/A thing that says that we were here before we die,” she sings.
Speace moves into more uncomfortable territory in “Ginger Ale and Lorna Doones,” an account of a woman’s experience at the kind of medical clinic that draws protesters and worse. For all its social and political implications, the decision this unnamed character has made is a difficult and lonely one, softened only by small gestures along the way. “Closest thing to kindness/Who would ever think of this,” Speace sings about the products in the song’s title. “Little bit of sweet and fizz/Filling up the emptiness.” The song’s emotional impact is the more devastating for its understated nature.
“Icicle King” is another disturbing trip to the dark side, a first-person account of a child’s escape from domestic violence through fantasy. That’s sad enough, but toward the end the words hint at a more ominous possibility: “I sailed from the port of Ohio one night in December/Snuck out of the back from the door leading west to the creek.”
Speace is happy to acknowledge good in the world as well. “Grace of God” is a gospel-flavored ode to redemption, and “Both Feet on the Ground” is a declaration of commitment that can be heard as a lullaby to her young son or as a hymn. The album closes with her rendition of Ben Glover’s “Kindness,” a musical benediction whose verses end with “May you know kindness and may kindness know you.”
The rest of the album’s 11 tracks are of similar high quality, fueled by her powerful and expressive voice (she was a theatrical actor before her musical career) and her capable playing on guitar and piano. Speace’s fine supporting cast includes guitarists Will Kimbrough and Kris Donegan, bassist Dean Marold, violinist Eamon McLaughlin and drummer Neilson Hubbard, who also produced the album.