Amy Speace: Live Last Night

Jersey City folk singer Amy Speace is excited for the release of her latest disc, "The Killer In Me," out June 30 -- but the project isn't exactly new. "It's nice the album is coming out, but I recorded it a year and a half ago," she told the audience last night during her show at Alexandria's Church of the Resurrection. And, she said, she's been writing tons of new songs in the meantime: "I've been stockpiling."

So, in addition to obligatory plugging of material from "The Killer In Me," and songs from her previous records, Speace used the show -- part of a concert series organized by local folk music non-profit Focus -- to try out some unreleased material.

(Read the rest of the review after the jump.)

Fresh offerings included the balmy "Hurricane," barfly lullaby "It's Too Late to Call It A Night" and "I Had to Lose," a song Speace announced she'd written just two nights ago, before commencing to read the lyrics from a crumpled sheet of paper.

Still, songs from the new disc, Speace's second album under Judy Collins' Wildflower imprint, were the central focus, from the haunting '60s-style folk of "Haven't Learned a Thing" to more twangy, country-influenced offerings such as "Dog Days" and "Would I Lie."

Despite the glut of new and newer songs, though, no folk show is complete without a sing-along segment. So, to satisfy that requirement, Speace trotted out plenty of relative oldies from 2002's "Fable" and 2006's "Songs For Bright Street," including the crowd-pleasing "Double Wide Trailer," where she gave her lovely vocal chords a bit of a rest, letting the crowd take over lyrics about mud and Bud.

-- SARAH GODFREY

By J. Freedom du Lac |  June 15, 2009; 11:55 AM ET Live Last Night
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Posted by: imisssiskel | June 15, 2009 11:43 PM

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