ALBUM REVIEW: On ‘The American Dream’ Amy Speace Creates Landscapes of the Human Heart

Amy Speace creates landscapes of the human heart in her songs through her exquisite use of words and images. On her ninth album, The American Dream, Speace shines a light into the corners of our lives where we hide hopes and dreams to reveal their flaws, as well as their brilliant edges.

Speace kicks off the album’s country-pop title track with hard guitar strums opening cinematically into the story of a young girl’s life in 1976: riding her Huffy bike “like a speed machine,” life seemed unbounded by the weight of the world. “Hold on tight to the American Dream,” Speace sings in the chorus, counseling us to try to hold onto the memories of what we were as well as the hopes and possibilities for what we can be.

With bright guitar and piano chords that sonically resemble Fleetwood Mac’s “Gypsy,” Speace tells the story of the titular character’s dreams and dashed hopes in “Homecoming Queen.” Tinkling piano phrases of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” introduce the humorous slice of life sketch, “First United Methodist Day Care Christmas Show,” a musical cross between Ray Stevens and Mary Chapin Carpenter.

On “In New York City,” a soaring, Laura-Nyro-like autobiographical track Speace reflects on her early years and adventures in the city, the strains of a B-3 organ flow beneath the soul-stirring “I’m Glad I’m Gone,” an ode to regret and joyful anticipation, and quiet, swirling guitars evoke the hushed beauty of “This February Day.” Speace closes the album with her gorgeous, spacious version of Jaimee Harris and Graham Weber’s transcendent paean to hope, “Love is Gonna Come Again.”

Each song on The American Dream is a gem that Speace inhabits with her lilting vocals and lyrical ingenuity.

Amy Speace’s The American Dream releases Oct. 18 on Windbone Records.