Review: Amy Speace – There Used To Be Horses Here

For her tenth offering, Amy Speace reflects on the short period between the birth of her son and her father’s passing in 2019.

The album is deeply personal as Speace experiences the joy of childbirth whilst musing over a tangled relationship with her father, until she became very close some seven years ago, as he became her hero and sharpest critic. The opening track Down the Trail encapsulates perfectly her childhood memories and her father’s words to her in his final days.

Influenced by the likes of Judy Collins and Kathy Mattea, Speace wrote or co-wrote all songs on the album apart from Warren Zevon’s classic Don’t Let Us Get Sick which closes the album. ‘There Used to be Horses Here’ probably represents Speace’s most intimate and emotional song writing to date and whilst the subject matter may appear heavy, it is by no means a sad collection. As a fan and friend of Nashville outfit The Orphan Brigade, she invited them to collaborate as songwriters and producers and the result is something to be savoured.

By John Roffey

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