Nanci Griffith RIP

I was shocked and heartbroken when I saw an announcement from the New York Times that the folk singer Nanci Griffith passed away today at 68 years old. She has fought bouts of cancer a couple of times during her career but there was no announcement today for the cause of death. Apparently she requested that a week should pass before there is any official discussion of her illness. She wanted people to talk about her music at the time of her death and not the cause of her passing. I've been playing her music all day.

She has always been one of my favorite singer-songwriters. She is from Texas too but a good Texan. I've also always loved her songs. She is a very talented songwriter but she certainly does have a way with interpreting other people's songs too. All of her albums have had nice selections of songs that she has covered both classic and unknowns but soon to be classic.

The first album I got from her was the CD Little Love Affairs in 1988 which quickly became one of my favorite albums. During that same year I also got her live album One Fair Summer Evening and I became fascinated by the song From a Distance which was written by Julie Gold in 1985. Griffith also recorded a great version of it on her live album in 1988 and of course in 1990 Bette Midler version became a massive hit. I liked the Byrds version of that song from 1990 too. I also went back and got her earlier album Lone Star State of Mind from 1987 that had her studio version of From a Distance.

I loved her next album Storms from 1989 then started getting every Nanci Griffith album as it came out and also went back into her catalog and collected her earlier albums. I really liked 1984's Once in a Very Blue Moon and Last of the True Believer from 1986. I've got all of her albums up until the last studio album from 2012.

As good as all of her albums have been and filled with so many great songs she has written I was very excited and have absolutely loved her two albums of songs from other artists that have influenced her songwriting. Her tenth album Other Voices, Other Rooms from 1993 and her thirteenth album Other Voices, Too (A Trip to Bountiful) from 1998 are just stunning collections of great songs done with a wonderful collection of other artists contributing to the albums. The first one won a Grammy Award. They are both two more of my favorite albums.

In August 2000 Becky and I along with Katie and Sean saw Nanci Griffith perform at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. She was wonderful and the kids were impressed. Actually everyone we saw that year was great and in particular Greg Brown, Oscar Lopez, Patty Larkin, Mary Gauthier, John Gorka, Natalie McMasters, John Hartford, Rosalie Sorrells, John Hammond and The Saw Doctors among others. A fun day.

My Nanci Griffith albums in my collection

• There's a Light Beyond These Woods, 1978
• Poet in My Window, 1982
• Once in a Very Blue Moon, 1984
• Last of the True Believers, 1986
• Lone Star State of Mind, 1987
• Little Love Affairs, 1988
• One Fair Summer Evening, 1988
• Storms, 1989
• Late Night Grande Hotel, 1991
• Other Voices, Other Rooms, 1993
• Flyer, 1994
• Blue Roses from the Moons, 1997
• Other Voices Too (A Trip to Bountiful), 1998
• The Dustbowl Symphony, 1999
• Clock Without Hands, 2001
• The Complete MCA Studio Recordings Box Set, 2003
• Hearts in Mind, 2004
• Ruby's Torch, 2006
• The Loving Kind, 2009
• Intersection, 2012