Billboard is excited to bring you a sneak peek of “How To Sleep In A Stormy Boat,” the new album from acclaimed singer-songwriter Amy Speace. Set for release on April 16, each cut on the album was inspired by quotes from the work of William Shakespeare.
On “The Fortunate Ones” (getting its streaming premiere right here on Billboard), Speace recruited the help of Mary Gauthier; in it they sing of keeping the “monsters at bay.” Listen Below:
“I never learn anything until the demons I’m wrestling force me to a headlock on my knees and I have to give up the fight and wave the white flag,” she tells Billboard about the song. “It’s then in the dirty raggedness of my own failings that I see the grace of the lesson. And I surround myself with others, swimming upstream. It’s why I asked Mary Gauthier to sing this song with me. She has taught me a lot about the beauty of our demons.”
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The Maryland native is in the midst of a career whirlwind right now. Speace recently played SXSW, and received acclaim for her performance. Ironically, it was another appearance at the Austin festival that gave her career a kick-start. Upon playing there before, the legendary Judy Collins heard Speace, and signed her to her label, and even covered one of her songs.
“How To Sleep In A Stormy Boat” includes a duet with the Grammy-nominated John Fulbright titled “The Sea And The Shore.”
In writing the liner notes for the album, Dave Marsh calls the release “the most daring, confident, ambitious, and beautiful album Amy Speace has made since she began recording.”