January

I was listening to NPR this morning as I drove my friends to the airport after having them here through the last few days of this long and challenging holiday. Two things struck me. The first was a conversation about privacy issues and Facebook -- a place we all post …

The Blizzard

I woke in Nashville this morning at 6:00am, hit snooze once, untangled my bare legs from the down and the cotton, turned the bedside radio on to NPR, stumbled down the hall to the kitchen to the coffeepot to hit "on", having prepared it last night, shoved my sleeping …

Everyone's gotta have an opinion

Climb on a back that's strong....
I was thinking about what made me pick the guitar up this morning, while the wind whipped through my trees and crashed the chime bells together like ship rope and metal clanging in a harbor. Sitting here in the warmth with a slight …

Cure for what ails you

There's little that a 13 mile bike ride along a river won't cure. That, and "Shoot Out The Lights" at top volume. Just saying...

Skybursting

There are some nights that are harder than others. Some nights when silence is best. Or loud music. Or an entire bottle of wine. Or a good friend, some popcorn and "Dr. Zhivago". And then tonight, I was doing what I should ease myself off of--the bad habit of …

Midnightspiration

I should be asleep. Really I should. Not only do I have a morning writing appointment and I should get up early and maybe...um...write a bit...or at least gather my ideas around me like a blanket to warm me from the cold cold first 15 minutes of the co-write, always an …

Thanksgiving

I was going to start this with a list of things I'm thankful for on this day-after-Thanksgiving-reflective-windy-grey-cold sort of day. But I think I did that in my last blog, so I'm going to sail on a different pond today.
I woke yesterday to the smell of coffee …

November Happy List

A list of things that are currently making me happy.
Marianne Faithful's version of "Its All Over Now Baby Blue"Homemade Apple Wine from my hosts in State College who capped a bottle for meCreamy tangy blue cheese from EnglandBare treetop branches that reflect sunlight …

Speakers Corner, Phoenixville, PA, where a tired girl blogs from a musty old motel room on 23 West

This is an unabashed, unashamed plea for your loyalty. It's also a call to arms.It can be both at once. Self-promotional and hopeful universal.
There is nothing wrong with Taylor Swift. Except that she doesn't speak to me. Nor anyone I know. The world of music lovers …

The Scrapyard

I'm way up in Harbor Springs, Michigan at Lamb's Retreat for Songwriters, a cool weekend 'retreat' where some of us are here to teach and some are here to learn and all are here to write a song in 72 hours. John Lamb gives everyone very evocative songwriting assignments …

This is not about a couch

After what seemed like longer than it should take, the furniture is in its place and boxes are unpacked and this rented house is starting to emerge, looking like something that could be mine for a while. It's old and creaky, drafty and a bit like the slow cousin who …

Me Too

Its been a while. I've had no lack of things to move me. But it was a post by someone that led me back here. I found something today in the woods. This woman wrote me to say she was going through a divorce or a separation and that she'd found my album. I'm not patting …

This October, Amy Speace can add a new highlight to her ever-growing list of accomplishments this year: a string of dates with legendary songstress Nanci Griffith."Of the many artists that I look up to Nanci Griffith surely is high up on my list of influences," says …

(via amyspeace)

Joy. Unabashed.

Today I was packing boxes and watching the U.S. Open. My family, I should admit, is a tennis family. My father and my Uncle (his twin) had a long-standing match going, competitively, for probably 40 years. As long as I remember. I think my beloved uncle died a match up …

In the end, all we want is beauty

You can talk to me all you want about structure and how the lyric needs to fit the melody and it all should sit really clear in a form and sit nicely and hopefully within a 3:30 minute structure. And dear god write a hummable and clearly memorable chorus that everyone …

If the shoe fits...

Funny thing, all these people saying that I will "fit" in Nashville, when I don't really see it. I don't hear true country in my voice or my writing. I just hear this mix of all that's in my head, from Dolly to Joni to The Replacements and Steve Earle and me trying to …

Jersey City

Things I will miss about Jersey City:
My backyard garden, lit up at nightThe flowers on Manila street in the springThe woman at the laundromat on 2nd and Manila who speaks no english but always folds my laundry for me if I leave it in the dryer a bit too longBasic …

Happiness

Happiness=
Fresh ground coffee in a French Press at your friend's house after she was quick on the draw with the kleenex box the past few nights when you've needed to release the sore sore heart
A snippet of a melody or a lyric coming in with the rain as you drive to the …

The Morning After...

...where you wake up saying "did THAT really happen or was I just dreaming", whether it was a conversation or a dare or a pact or a kiss or a decision or a sudden new connection or a new song lyric coming in or a late night writing to the ether about moving …

Southern Hospitality

So a door opens and you notice it and then a bunch of doors swing open and you're standing there in front of this breeze from the fact that the windows and the doors of this house are just wide open and you keep doubting the sky...
Last month an idea: to move south. To …