Nanci Griffith

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. Griffith began her music career at age 12, singing in a local coffeehouse. 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. ==Career==

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'', was released in 1982. Both albums were folk-oriented and released on small labels. Griffith attracted attention of record producer Jimmy Rooney and recorded her third album, Once in a Very Blue Moon 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, 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 to MCA Records and moved to Nashville; her first album for MCA was the country-oriented Lone Star State of Mind, 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", 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, 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. , 2007 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, 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 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. ==Awards==

Griffith won the 1994 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album for Other Voices, Other Rooms. She was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame in 1995. Griffith was awarded the Kate Wolf Memorial Award by the World Folk Music Association in 1995. In 2008, the Americana Music Association awarded her its Lifetime Americana Trailblazer Award. Lyle Lovett, who contributed backing vocals to her third album, Once in a Very Blue Moon, had won it before her. In 2010, Griffith received a Lifetime Achievement Award at BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Griffith was posthumously inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriters Association's Hall of Fame in February 2022 at the Paramount Theatre in Austin. == The Blue Moon Orchestra ==

Griffith called her backing band the Blue Moon Orchestra. With regard to the chosen stage name, she wrote: 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 in 2009. Her song "It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go" 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. She considered herself a non-practicing Catholic. ==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. ==Discography==

Studio albums Live albums Compilation albums Singles == Videography ==

• Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration Sony VHS (1993) • Other Voices, Other Rooms Elektra Video VHS (1993) • Winter Marquee Rounder/Universal DVD, Widescreen, (2002) • One Fair Summer Evening...Plus! Universal Music & VI DVD, Fullscreen, (2005) Music videos ==Bibliography==