Nanci Griffith

Biography

Nanci Caroline Griffith (July 6, 1953 – August 13, 2021) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She often appeared on the PBS music program Austin City Limits, starting in 1985 during season 10. Griffith's career spanned a variety of musical genres, predominantly country, folk, and what she termed "folkabilly." She won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1994 for her 1993 recording, Other Voices, Other Rooms. The album features Griffith covering the songs of artists who were her major influences. One of her better-known songs is "From a Distance," which was written and composed by Julie Gold.
Griffith toured with various other artists, including Buddy Holly's band - the Crickets (without Buddy Holly), John Prine, Iris DeMent, Suzy Bogguss, Judy Collins, and the Everly Brothers. Griffith recorded duets with many artists, among them Prine, Emmylou Harris, Mary Black, Don McLean, Jimmy Buffett, Dolores Keane, Willie Nelson, Adam Duritz (of Counting Crows), the Chieftains, John Stewart, and Darius Rucker. Griffith referred to her backing band as the Blue Moon Orchestra.

Early life

Griffith, the youngest of three siblings, was born in Seguin, Texas, and grew up in Rollingwood, a suburb of Austin, where her family moved shortly after her birth. Her mother Ruelene was a real estate agent and amateur actress; her father, Marlin Griffith, was a printer, publisher, graphic artist and barbershop quartet singer. Griffith began her music career at age 12, singing in a local coffeehouse. When she was a teenager, her father took her to see Townes Van Zandt. At 14, she performed her first professional gig at the Red Lion Cabaret in downtown Austin.
Griffith attended the University of Texas at Austin and received a degree in education. She taught kindergarten and first grade for a couple of years, before fully focusing on music.

Independent labels (1978–1986)

Her debut album, There's a Light Beyond These Woods, was released in 1978; the cover was designed by her father. Her second album, Poet in My Window×Poet in My Window1982 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Marilyn Monroe/Neon and Waltzes2:482Heart of a Miner3:413Julie Anne3:134You Can't Go Home Again4:025October Reasons3:226Wheels2:507Workin' in Corners4:068Waltzing with the Angels3:109Trouble With Roses2:3210Tonight I think I'm Gonna Go Downtown2:3611Poet in My Window2:21, was released in 1982. Both albums were folk-oriented and released on small labels.
Griffith attracted attention of record producer Jim Rooney and recorded her third album, Once in a Very Blue Moon×Once in a Very Blue Moon1984 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Ghost in the Music2:492Love Is a Hard Waltz3:123Roseville Fair3:014Mary & Omie4:315Friend Out in the Madness2:436Time Alone2:037Ballad of Robin Winter-Smith3:168Daddy Said2:369Once in a Very Blue Moon2:3410I'm Not Drivin' These Wheels (Bring the Prose to the Wheel)3:1911Year Down in New Orleans2:3112Spin on a Red Brick Floor2:46 in 1984, in Nashville, with musicians such as Béla Fleck, Mark O'Connor and Lloyd Green. In the same year, she performed on PBS music program Austin City Limits. In the next year, with mostly the same musicians, she recorded the album The Last of the True Believers×The Last of the True Believers1986 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1The Last of the True Believers2:532Love at the Five & Dime4:393St. Olav’s Gate3:114More than a Whisper3:505Banks of the Pontchartrain3:466Lookin’ for the Time (Workin’ Girl)2:487Goin’ Gone4:298One of These Days3:009Love’s Found a Shoulder2:2710Fly by Night2:4311The Wing & the Wheel2:47, which won her first Grammy nomination. The album included the songs "Love at the Five and Dime" and "Goin' Gone" which became hits for Kathy Mattea.

MCA years (1987–1991)

Griffith signed with MCA Records and moved to Nashville; her first album for MCA was the country-oriented Lone Star State of Mind×Lone Star State of Mind1987 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Lone Star State of Mind4:012Cold Hearts / Closed Minds2:443From a Distance4:144Beacon Street2:545Nickel Dreams2:516Sing One for Sister3:247Ford Econoline2:148Trouble in the Fields3:229Love in a Memory3:2010Let It Shine on Me3:0311There's a Light Beyond These Woods (Mary Margaret)4:22, which included two songs, "Trouble in the Fields", co-written by Griffith, and "From a Distance", written by then unknown songwriter Julie Gold. These songs became popular in Ireland, and both have been covered by many singers. It was followed by Little Love Affairs, featuring "Outbound Plane" which later became a hit for Suzy Bogguss. In 1988, Griffith released One Fair Summer Evening, a live album recorded in Anderson Fair in Houston.
Griffith transferred to the MCA pop division and recorded Storms, which included a song she considered the most important she wrote, "It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go×It's A Hard Life Wherever You Go1989 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1It’s a Hard Life Wherever You Go4:012Gulf Coast Highway3:063If Wishes Were Changes3:47", about conflict in Northern Ireland and racism in the US.
In 1990, Griffith appeared on the Channel 4 program Town & Country with John Prine in a segment entitled "White Pants", where she wore white pants at the Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tennessee, along with Buddy Mondlock, Barry "Byrd" Burton, and Robert Earl Keen.
Griffith released Late Night Grande Hotel in 1991, and then left MCA Records.

Other Voices, Other Rooms and later works

In 1993, Griffith released the album Other Voices, Other Rooms, which won her first and only Grammy award. The album featured songs by various folk and country songwriters, and a large group of musicians, from Bob Dylan to Odetta. The album was certified gold by RIAA in 2005, more than a decade after it was released.
In 1994, she released the album Flyer×Flyer13 September 1994 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1The Flyer4:232Nobody's Angel4:153Say It Isn't So3:194Southbound Train4:325These Days in an Open Book3:336Time of Inconvenience3:497Don't Forget About Me2:598Always Will2:429Going Back to Georgia4:1610Talk to Me While I'm Listening4:1311Fragile3:2612On Grafton Street4:0313Anything You Need But Me3:0714Goodnight to a Mother's Dream4:0315This Heart3:25, which received another Grammy nomination.
In the same year, Griffith teamed with Jimmy Webb to contribute the song "If These Old Walls Could Speak" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. She survived breast cancer which was diagnosed in 1996, and thyroid cancer in 1998.
Christine Lavin, a singer and songwriter, remembers the first time she saw Griffith perform:

I was struck by how perfect everything was about her singing, her playing, her talking. I realized from the get-go that this was someone who was a complete professional. Obviously she had worked a long time to get to be that good.
In the late 1990s, Griffith wrote a letter to a number of Texas media, expressing her frustration with recent reviews.
Griffith contributed background vocals on many other recordings.

Griffith performed four songs, "The Day the Earth Stopped Cold", "Gravity of the Situation", "So Strange", and "Hold My Hand" with Hootie & the Blowfish during their MTV Unplugged performance in 1996 in Columbia, South Carolina, to raise awareness for Sweet Relief Musicians Fund.
Griffith suffered from severe writer's block after 2004, lasting until the 2009 release of the album The Loving Kind×The Loving Kind9 June 2009 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1The Loving Kind2:372Money Changes Everything3:093One of These Days3:044Up Against the Rain3:345Cotton3:306Not Innocent Enough3:347Across America3:068Party Girl3:009Sing3:1810Things I Don't Need2:5211Still Life3:5212Tequila After Midnight3:1313Pour Me a Drink3:35, which contained nine selections that she had written and composed either entirely by herself or as collaborations.
After several months of limited touring in 2011, Griffith's bandmates the Kennedys (Pete & Maura Kennedy) packed up their professional Manhattan recording studio and moved it to Nashville, installing it in Griffith's home. There with her backing group including the Kennedys and Pat McInerney, she co-produced her album Intersection×Intersection20 February 2012 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Bethlehem Steel2:362Never Going Back3:163Intersection2:364Waiting On A Dark Eyed Girl3:345Hell No (I'm Not Alright)2:226Stranded In The High Ground2:497If I Could Only Fly5:098Just Another Morning Here3:559Bad Seed2:4410Davey's Last Picture2:5511Come On Up Mississippi1:5812High On A Mountain Top2:46 over the summer. The album included several new original songs and was released in April 2012 on Proper Records. Her website lists live performances through 2013.

The Blue Moon Orchestra

Griffith called her backing band the Blue Moon Orchestra. With regard to the chosen stage name, she wrote:

During the Christmas holidays of 1986, I organized a band of musicians to work this road of touring and to pass effortlessly through mine fields of studio sessions. They chose their name, the Blue Moon Orchestra, from my third album, Once in a Very Blue Moon×Once in a Very Blue Moon1984 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Ghost in the Music2:492Love Is a Hard Waltz3:123Roseville Fair3:014Mary & Omie4:315Friend Out in the Madness2:436Time Alone2:037Ballad of Robin Winter-Smith3:168Daddy Said2:369Once in a Very Blue Moon2:3410I'm Not Drivin' These Wheels (Bring the Prose to the Wheel)3:1911Year Down in New Orleans2:3112Spin on a Red Brick Floor2:46. Some of them I had recorded and toured with prior to 1986: and some simply wandered into the Blue Moon Orchestra through this revolving open door of the road.
The title selection of the Once in a Very Blue Moon album reached number 85 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1986. In 1986, Griffith showcased tracks from her Lone Star State of Mind album on The Nashville Network TV show, New Country.

Final members
Nanci Griffith – lead vocals, guitar
Pat McInerney – drums, percussion
Maura Kennedy – vocals, guitar
Pete Kennedy – guitar, vocals
Previous members
James Hooker – piano, B-3, keyboards, vocals
Byrd Burton – guitar
Frank Christian – guitar
Philip Donnelly – guitar
Danny Flowers – guitar
Clive Gregson – guitar, vocals
Thomm Jutz – guitar, vocals
Doug Lancio – electric guitar
Lee Satterfield – vocals, rhythm guitar, mandolin
Denny Bixby – bass, harmony vocals
Ron De La Vega – bass, cello
Le Ann Etheridge – vocals, bass guitar, rhythm guitar
Pete Gordon – bass
Pete Gorisch – bass, cello
Danny Milliner – bass
J. T. Thomas – bass, vocals
Fran Breen – drums
Liam Genockey – drums
Steve Smith – drums
Guest backing vocalists
Emmylou Harris
Iris DeMent
Lyle Lovett
Denice Franke

Personal life

Griffith's high-school boyfriend, John, died in a motorcycle accident shortly after taking her to the senior prom. He inspired many of her later songs. She was married to singer-songwriter Eric Taylor from 1976 to 1982. In the early 1990s, she was engaged to singer-songwriter Tom Kimmel.
Griffith was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996, and thyroid cancer in 1998. Dupuytren's contracture led to her losing flexibility in her fingers, which made playing the guitar difficult.

Political views and activism

Griffith was outspoken in her political views, supporting liberal, pacifist and left policies. She was "a total abolitionist on the death penalty" and wrote a song, "Not Innocent Enough", which appeared on her album The Loving Kind×The Loving Kind9 June 2009 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1The Loving Kind2:372Money Changes Everything3:093One of These Days3:044Up Against the Rain3:345Cotton3:306Not Innocent Enough3:347Across America3:068Party Girl3:009Sing3:1810Things I Don't Need2:5211Still Life3:5212Tequila After Midnight3:1313Pour Me a Drink3:35 in 2009.
Her song "It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go×It's A Hard Life Wherever You Go1989 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1It’s a Hard Life Wherever You Go4:012Gulf Coast Highway3:063If Wishes Were Changes3:47" addressed the Troubles in Northern Ireland and racism in the United States.
Together with Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell and other artists, she was a member of Music Row Democrats, an organization promoting Democratic Party candidates in Nashville. She also supported Barack Obama and said, after he was elected: "the election [of Barack Obama] brought out the acceptance of hope and a new direction. When I went to Europe, I wasn't embarrassed about my country."
For years, Griffith wore buttons with political messages on her guitar strap, most often buttons from the Lyndon Johnson presidential campaign.
Griffith visited Vietnam, Cambodia, Kosovo and Angola in the 2000s, supporting Campaign for a Landmine Free World.

Death

Griffith died in Nashville on August 13, 2021, at the age of 68. The exact cause of death was not reported but her management company attributed it to natural causes.

Tribute albums

The first tribute album, Trouble In The Fields: An Artists' Tribute To Nanci Griffith was released by Paradiddle Records in 2012, including covers of Griffith's songs by the Kennedys, Jerry Jeff Walker, Tom Russell, Julie Gold, Red Molly, Carolyn Hester, John Stewart, Amy Rigby and others, mostly Griffith's collaborators and folk singers-songwriters.
On September 22, 2023, another tribute album, More than a Whisper: Celebrating the Music of Nanci Griffith, was released by Rounder and Concord Records. The compilation featured covers of Griffith's songs by her friends and fans, including Sarah Jarosz, John Prine, Kelsey Waldon, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Kathy Mattea, Brandy Clark, Shawn Colvin, Ida Mae, Steve Earle, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Todd Snider, Iris DeMent, Mary Gauthier, and The War and Treaty.