Bio

Beautifully uplifting and deeply personal, Amy Speace has made the most revealing album of her career with There Used to Be Horses Here. Recorded in Nashville in just four days, the award-winning songwriter pulls directly from her own childhood memories, coming of age in New York City, and losing a parent while learning to become one.

In its most powerful moments, the album sets Speace’s majestic voice to symphonic arrangements, yet her songwriting remains intimate and emotional. As a fan and friend of the Nashville band The Orphan Brigade, she invited its three members to collaborate as songwriters and co-producers, inspired by their persistent rhythms and sweeping sonic palette. Remembering her vocal sessions, she says simply, “While I was singing over what those guys were playing, it made me feel like I was flying.”

While many of the subjects are heavy, There Used to Be Horses Here isn’t a sad record. Instead it’s a direct reflection of the 12 months between her son’s first birthday and the loss of her dad, propelled by a playwright’s eye for detail, a performer’s gift of vocal delivery, and a poet’s talent for concise writing.With a music career spanning more than 40 years, David Ferguson has engineered landmark albums for Johnny Cash, opened a recording studio with John Prine, and shared a Grammy win with Sturgill Simpson. Now the Nashville native has become a compelling recording artist in his own right with Nashville No More, his debut album on Fat Possum Records.

The self-produced project gathers an exceptional cast of friends from the city’s Americana and bluegrass community, while the track listing is simply a reflection of songs he likes. Some selections are familiar, but others are landing on a record for the first time. And even though Ferguson (better known around town as “Fergie”) says he recorded these songs as a way to pass the time during the pandemic, Nashville No More nonetheless carries him out of the control room and into a deserving spotlight.

“I always knew I was going to be in this business, always,” he says. “I think I knew I was going to be a recording engineer when I was about 15 years old. I've loved music all my life, but I never really listened to the lyrics of a song until I was in my 20s. I was just listening to the music, the whole thing. I guess I started noticing lyrics in my mid-20s, trying to figure out what a good song was then.”

That revelation coincided with a dream gig working for the legendary producer “Cowboy” Jack Clement, who hired Ferguson as a teenager to run errands. Ferguson heard about the job from the owner of the Old-Time Picking Parlor, a long-forgotten club and guitar repair shop in downtown Nashville. He took the job without knowing about Clement’s crucial role in establishing artists like Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Charley Pride. He stayed on for decades, engineering and producing records for newcomers and icons alike.

“I loved it. That was the best job in the world,” Ferguson says now. “A really good job for a young guy with very little education. ‘Cowboy’ gave me a chance.”

Those professional relationships followed him to his own Music Row studio called the Naughty Pines, a small, rented room where he produced demos and kept the door open for Cash, who liked to stretch out on the small couch. In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, Cash enlisted Ferguson (with producer Rick Rubin’s blessing) to engineer multiple sessions for the American Recordings series of albums, capturing modern classics like “Hurt” and “The Mercy Seat.”

John Prine, whom Ferguson remembers as “a great hang,” was another regular presence at the Naughty Pines. But when an adjoining tenant constantly complained about all the cigarette smoke, Fergie had no choice but to relocate. So, he and Prine launched a new studio they named the Butcher Shoppe, due to its unassuming location next to a former meat processing plant.

Many prominent Americana artists recorded there, including Tyler Childers, Margo Price and Sturgill Simpson. Fergie picked up a Grammy when Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth – recorded at the Butcher Shoppe -- won the 2016 Grammy for Best Country Album. But once the entire property was sold in 2020, the Butcher Shoppe became yet another casualty of the New Nashville. “We were there for a long time, about 15 years, and it was nice to have,” he says. “All good things come to an end.”

Not to be deterred, Fergie moved all of his recording equipment to his home studio, located on an acreage far from the city limits, and started cutting songs.

He recorded two of the tracks years ago, after singing them at a wedding. Others are by steadfast songwriters such as Guy Clark, Stephen Foster, Lee Hazlewood, Gordon Lightfoot, and Ian Tyson. Notable Nashville songwriters like Roger Cook, Pat McLaughlin, and Allen Reynolds are represented as well, with a pair of songs from his late friend, Charles Cochran.

Throughout the album, Ferguson’s baritone conveys sincerity, not to mention life experience. The timbre of his vocal is believable whether he’s singing the wistful “Four Strong Winds,” or a love song like “Nights With You.” Meanwhile, the irresistible “Chardonnay” could have been a huge hit for Dean Martin back in the day, just as “Knockin’ Around Nashville” will satisfy longtime country listeners who still miss the piano and pedal steel.

Nashville No More also stands as a testament to Fergie’s love for bluegrass music, particularly on “Early Morning Rain.” He lights up when remembering the two years he played bass during the final stretch of Jimmy Martin’s career. In addition, Ferguson won a 2013 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album as an engineer on the Del McCoury Band’s The Streets of Baltimore.

Bluegrass listeners will easily pick out the all-stars in the credits of Nashville No More: Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Béla Fleck, Sierra Hull, Ronnie McCoury, Justin Moses, and Tim O’Brien, to name only a few. Will Oldham guests on “Fellow Travelers” and “Looking for You,” while Hull and Price sing exquisite harmony on multiple songs. Ferguson shares guitar duties with players like Dan Auerbach, Mark Howard, Billy Sanford, and Kenny Vaughan.

Nashville No More brings a long-held family dream to fruition, too. Ferguson’s maternal grandfather moved to Nashville in the 1950s to be a singer and bandleader. But he put his musical ambitions on hold to help his daughter raise her children, including Fergie. Indeed, some of Ferguson’s earliest memories are being cradled in the family’s rocking chair, hearing his mother sing – and it’s fair to say that he’s been drawn to special voices ever since.

“The hardest thing to do is doing a record on yourself. You’ve got to learn how to listen to it like you're listening to somebody else. Man, that takes gumption,” he says. “I'm so used to doing something and then moving on to the next thing, but I think it's going to be neat to have a record come out. I’ll give it to my mom, let her see what she thinks about it.”

ABOUT DAVID FERGUSON

With a music career spanning more than 40 years, David Ferguson has engineered landmark albums for Johnny Cash, opened a recording studio with John Prine, and shared a Grammy win with Sturgill Simpson. Now the Nashville native has become a compelling recording artist in his own right with Nashville No More, his debut album on Fat Possum Records. The self-produced project gathers an exceptional cast of friends from the city’s Americana and bluegrass community, while the track listing is simply a reflection of songs he likes. Ferguson has won Grammy Awards for engineering the Del McCoury Band’s The Streets of Baltimore and Sturgill Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.