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. In 1990, Griffith appeared on the Channel 4 programme Town & Country with John Prine in a segment entitled "White Pants", where Nanci Griffith wore white pants at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee, along with Buddy Mondlock, Barry "Byrd" Burton, and Robert Earl Keen. In 1994, Griffith won a Grammy Award for the album Other Voices, Other Rooms. Griffith toured with various other artists including Buddy Holly's band, the Crickets; John Prine, Iris DeMent, Suzy Bogguss, Judy Collins, and The Everly Brothers. Griffith recorded duets with many artists, among them Emmylou Harris, Mary Black, Prine, Don McLean, Jimmy Buffett, Dolores Keane, Willie Nelson, Adam Duritz (singer of Counting Crows), the Chieftains, John Stewart, and Darius Rucker. Griffith referred to her backing band as the Blue Moon Orchestra.

Early life and career

Griffith, the youngest of three siblings, was born in Seguin, Texas and grew up in 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 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. Her debut album, There’s a Light Beyond These Woods, was released in 1978; the cover was designed by her father. 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. Similarly, other artists have occasionally achieved greater success than Griffith herself with songs that she wrote or co-wrote. For example, Kathy Mattea had a country music top five hit with a 1986 cover of Griffith's "Love at the Five and Dime" and Suzy Bogguss had one of her largest hits with Griffith (and Tom Russell)'s "Outbound Plane". In 1994, 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." Griffith contributed background vocals on many other recordings. Griffith suffered from severe writer's block after 2004, lasting until the 2009 release of her The Loving Kind album, 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.

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: "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. 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.

Personal life

Griffith's high school boyfriend, John, died in a motorcycle accident 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.

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 album

On September 22, 2023, a 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.

Biography

Love at the Five and Dime: The Songwriting Legacy of Nanci Griffith by author Brian T. Atkinson was released through Texas A&M University Press on September 4, 2024. According to the author's website, Love at the Five and Dime includes forewords by the Indigo Girls, Lovett, Mattea, and more than 130 interviews with songwriter friends such as Earle, Rodney Crowell, Don McLean, and followers like Elizabeth Cook, the Counting Crows' Adam Duritz and Todd Snider as well as players like Lloyd Green and Tom Norris, a violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra. Interviews with producers Tony Brown, Peter Collins and Jim Rooney are also in the book.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Videography

Music videos

Non-fiction