In his review of Amy Speace’s 2019 album Me & The Ghost of Charlemagne Mike Davies called her “one of the great contemporary Americana singer-songwriters, a voice that can send shivers down the spine, lyrics that squeeze the heart until it bleeds.” This week sees the release of There Used to Be Horses Here (30 April) and, as evidenced below, Amy Speace still has that special magic.
Visually reflected in the beautiful accompanying video by Neighborhoods Apart (Neilson Hubbard/Joshua Brit), Amy Speace’s ‘Down the Trail‘ carries a brightness from its opening, warmed by strings that are reminiscent of Robert Kirby’s arrangements on Nick Drake’s work and, what sounds like, a mandolin that adds light-dappled accent’s throughout. That joy soon builds and swells into quite a breathtaking moment, a moment of realisation and acceptance…a time to let go. This is a true gem of a song that carries you from the start and is one that sets Amy Speace apart as a truly gifted songwriter and storyteller.
Amy on Down the Trail
My father was an identical twin. My Uncle Will had a massive heart attack about 10 years ago. The night before he died, my father had a dream that Uncle Will and my Nana were walking on a trail ahead of him. My dad was trying to catch up, but Will turned to him and said, ‘No, Dan. You can’t come down this trail.’ The night before my father died, I was sitting vigil with him next to his bed, giving my mother a much needed rest. About 3am, Dad sat up in his bed, which was a hospital bed in the living room, and gasped. I went and sat next to him. He wasn’t seeing me, he was elsewhere, I could tell. I grabbed his hand. He said, ‘I’ve got to…I’ve got to…” “Dad, what?” “I’ve got to go down the trail.” I knew what he was talking about, what trail, so I said, gently, “Dad, you can go. Uncle Will is wating for you.” Dad lay back on the bed and closed his eyes, going back to sleep under the morphine haze. He died the next afternoon. “I’ve got to go down the trail” were his last words. I consider it a great honor that I was there in the middle of the night to hear him let go.
Down The Trail is taken from the album “There Used To Be Horses Here” (Windbone Records/Proper Records – ex. USA) to be released April 30, 2021 – Pre-order: https://smarturl.it/amyspeacehorseshere