The algorithm posted a clip of Nanci Griffith early on David Letterman’s show ('88) and I hope I never get to posting mere clips so here’s the full version of this glorious Julie Gold song made so famous by Bette Midler I guess . . . . . From a Distance
Nanci Griffith, "From a Distance" on Letterman, August 30, 1988
we miss her . . .
From the music of machines as Dylan was saying to the exact opposite and you could not get more authentically real with our Nance
"Composed by Julie Gold, performed here by Nanci Griffith two years before Bette Midler's massive hit."
Our next No Depression Criticism Fellowship review from acclaimed journalist and 2026 ND Criticism Fellow, Erin Osmon, is here! The FreshGrass Foundation, our publisher, generously commissioned 4 acclaimed journalists to produce original album critiques and in-depth investigative journalism for the 2026 Fellowship cohort. More info on the Fellowships here.
For this Fellowship review, Erin selected a classic album (Storms) from one of the all-time greats, Nanci Griffith! No Depressionmembersenjoy the benefit of full access to high-quality journalism, in-depth stories like this one, and supports No Depression's nonprofit, independent operations.
Nanci Griffith’s Texas-specific literary intelligence, exuberant singing, acoustic instruments, and general sparkle remained throughout Storms, and these modern tools and esteemed collaborators simply augmented them. The reaction to the change was a resounding assumption that Griffith was now tainted. In the eyes of the cultural cognoscenti, she was no longer pure.
A Gentle Journey Through Memory and Heartache: Across The Great Divide
"For those who cherish the quiet grace of folk and country music, “Across The Great Divide” (written by Kate Wolf) sung here by Nanci Griffith, with the luminous harmony of Emmylou Harris, remains a deeply affecting recording. The song appears on Griffith’s 1993 album Other Voices, Other Rooms, a heartfelt tribute to the writers who shaped her musical soul. Although not released as a charting single, the album itself reached No. 5 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, reflecting its warm reception.
One of its most memorable performances came during Griffith’s live appearances in the early 1990s, particularly at the Austin City Limits stage, where the blend of her delicate phrasing and Harris’s angelic harmonies truly shone. This version is worth hearing for its sincerity and reverence—two voices, rich with experience, honouring a song with quiet dignity."
Nanci Griffith and Emmylou Harris Across The Great Divide
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When Nanci Griffith first recorded Across The Great Divide for her 1986 album The Last of the True Believers, it arrived as a quiet yet profoundly stirring testament to the bridges we build and the distances we endure in life and love. Though it never soared to the very top of the mainstream charts, peaking modestly on the folk and country listings, its resonance was immediate among those who cherished songs that whispered rather than shouted. The collaboration with Emmylou Harris, whose ethereal harmonies float like a soft wind through the verses, gave the song a luminous warmth, a gentle glow that lingered long after the needle left the groove.
My brother loved Jerry Jeff and introduced me to him and so I was thrilled to hear this version of his song from Nanci . . . . boy we miss her! We are the poorer without her
"Nanci Caroline Griffith was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She appeared many times on the PBS music program Austin City Limits starting in 1985 (season 10). In 1994 she 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, John Prine, Don McLean, Jimmy Buffett, Dolores Keane, Willie Nelson, Adam Duritz (singer of Counting Crows), the Chieftains, John Stewart; and Darius Rucker. Griffith had a backing band which she referred to as the Blue Moon Orchestra."
someone just posted this on fliackenabokk and it see worth posting again . . . . .we miss her, all the poorer for he dying so young
any excuse this was the first album I ever heard and here she is young young YOUNG!
Lone Star Sate of Mind - Nanci Griffith
Gettin' Tough New Country • BBC4 • 1987
Audio Source:
Nanci Griffith • Lone Star State of Mind • from the 1987 album Lone Star State of Mind
Musicians:
Nanci Griffith • vocals, acoustic guitar
Pat Alger • acoustic lead guitar, hi-string guitar
John Catchings • cello
Philip Donnelly • acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Even the intro is a poem . . . . . aww heck we miss you Nanci (she would have been 71 next month)
"Popcorn and chewing gum rubbed around on the bottom of a leather soled shoe . . . . . . “
Rita was sixteen years, hazel eyes and chestnut hair She made the Woolworth counter shine And Eddie was a sweet romancer, and a darn good dancer And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime
And they'd sing Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now Dance a little closer tonight Dance a little closer to me, 'cause it's closing time And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
Eddie played the steel guitar And his mama cried 'cause he played in the bars And kept young Rita out late at night So they married up in Abilene, lost a child in Tennessee Still that love survived
'Cause they'd sing Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now Dance a little closer tonight Dance a little closer to me, 'cause it's closing time And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
One of the boys in Eddie's band took a shine to Rita's hands So Eddie ran off with the bass man's wife Oh, but he was back by June, singin' a different tune And sportin' miss Rita back by his side
And he sang Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now Dance a little closer tonight Dance a little closer to me, 'cause it's closing time And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
Eddie traveled with the barroom bands 'Til arthritis took his hands Now he sells insurance on the side Rita's got a house to keep Dimestore novels and a love so sweet They dance to the radio late at night
And they sing Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now Dance a little closer tonight Dance a little closer to me, 'cause it's closing time And love's on sale tonight at this five and dime
'Cause Rita was sixteen years, with hazel eyes and chestnut hair She really made the Woolworth counter shine Eddie was a sweet romancer, and a darn good dancer And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime And they'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime
Heck we miss Nanci and hey I even miss Woolworths I can’t go fill up my bag with lots of unnecessary plastic objects . . . . . .
Dance a little closer to me, dance a little closer now, dance a little closer tonight
Nanci Griffith introduced us to Guy Clark and she chose to say he was amongst her favourite writers and featured him on Other Voices Other Rooms Vols I & II
This is classic country song and then some . . . . . . . . peerless!
Alice over at O MY Soul posts this song this morning (here) and it can’t be bad to revisit a fine fine Nanci Griffith live number . . . . . . I have no expectations. . . . . . but we MISS Nanci something rotten . . . . . think we have everything official and otherwise
Big O has kindly posted the NANCI GRIFFITH set from Cambridge Folk Festival from 1992 around the time of the release of ‘Intersection’ and in honour of Nanci the month of her passing away from unknown but ‘natural causes’ way back now in 2021. We miss her
So we will have another song of the day ‘Just Another Morning Here'
The Texas Connection sometimes in the 1990s.
The Blue Moon Orchestra includes:
James Hooker - keyboard & vocals
Pat McInerney - percussion
Pete Kennedy - lead guitar & vocals
Peter Gorish - cello & bass
Fran Breen - drums
Lee Satterfield - rhythm guitar & vocals
It’s a truly lovely set well balanced and a fine recording. If you don’t have it and are a fan you really must!
thanks as ever to Alice over at O My Soul for the reminder . . . . . . most welcome - we loved Nanci and have everything I think and perhaps the last live concert my wife and I went to that we both loved . . . . . .
miss you Nanci I know what that home town feeling is . . . . . . .
and she has followed up with a song from the first time she saw Nanci which coincidentally the Blue Moon tour is when we caught her
Another set from Nanci from Big O yesterday and this is an audience recording and I don’t normally bother but in Nanci’s case and quality here so I will
Worth a listen and a favourite time for me in her songwriting . . . .
There’s a lovely clear radio broadcast of early Nanci Griffith over at Big O this morning and extensive interviews too . . . . . . . .
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Michael Hall, texasmonthly.com:
In the mid-seventies Nanci Griffith began playing at various Austin clubs - including the Hole in the Wall (where she had a regular Sunday night slot in 1975 and 1976), the Alamo Lounge, and emmajoe’s - as part of a growing scene that included Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Lucinda Williams. “She was the first accomplished person to play the Hole in the Wall,” says Doug Cugini, who owned the noisy UT-area club back then. “Lots of people got up there with a guitar. It’s hard to get the attention of that room. She got the attention of that room.” Even before releasing her debut, 1978’s There’s a Light Beyond These Woods, Griffith hit the road, touring by herself and with a band, doing her own booking and publicity, playing small clubs and college radio stations. She was a folkie but she was no softie, and the hard work began to pay off. Fans heard the yearning in her voice, identified with her characters, and loved her literate songs about Texas; critics gushed. In 1985 she recorded her first Austin City Limits. Wearing red shoes with white socks, she looked kind of like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Lyle Lovett sang backup. Between songs she spoke in a hushed little-girl voice, then fell into a wobbly twang, then became meek again - sometimes in the space of one story. The rapt audience didn’t seem to mind.
[Note: Nanci Griffith passed away in August 2021. She was 68.]
I discovered Townes, I am ashamed to say (I guess)through Nanci Griffith's version of this extraordinary song on Other Voices, Other Rooms [1993] and was a fan of Van Zandt from then on . . . . . the version on YouTube of them both singing this is amongst the most haunting there has ever been of this fine fine song . . . . . . . . this is why he is one of the finest Americana songwriters there has ever been IMHO
This remastered recording from Big O today and as you will see the trolls come out if you even post a 'Thank You' but hey occasionally the work there is really worth it, as is this
Live at the Royal Albert Hall, London, UK; October 11, 1994. Very good BBC broadcast.
Big O says:
Thanks to PsyKies for sharing the complete show at Dime.
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PsyKies noted:
BBC Radio 2 recently rebroadcast the 1994 Royal Albert Hall performance by Nanci Griffith. However, a comparison to the original BBC Radio 1 broadcast from November 1994 as posted here by Soledriver showed that the rebroadcast was in fact a re-edit which removed around 20 minutes of the show and replaced it with 18 minutes of previously unbroadcast material.
I have compiled the two broadcasts by patching the missing FM sourced material from a speed corrected version of Soledrivers upload and another unknown FM recording into the recent digital broadcast.
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A regular visitor to the UK, Nanci Griffith performed for three nights, along with her ‘Blue Moon Orchestra’, at the Royal Albert Hall in October 1994, in support of her most recent album ‘The Flyer’. Dubbed by Rolling Stone magazine as ‘Queen of Folkabilly’, Nanci Griffith released her first two albums in 1978 and 1982 on a local Austin, Texas label. Her breakthrough came in 1986 with the album Last of the True Believers, which earned her a Grammy nomination and led to her being signed by MCA. She went on to release Lone Star State of Mind, which included the hugely acclaimed Julie Gold composition ‘From a Distance’.
Her 1989 album Storms, and 1991’s Late Night Grand Hotel moved her music further into the pop mainstream, before she returned to her country folk roots with the Grammy winning Other Voices, Other Rooms, an album celebrating folk songwriters including Bob Dylan, Ralph McTell and Tom Paxton. Her 1994 Royal Albert Hall set includes Across The Great Divide, Don’t Forget About Me, Tecumseh Valley, and Nobody’s Angel. - bbc.co.uk
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dbeamer407, Dime:
This has a heart breaking introduction to It’s A Hard Life Wherever You Go.
“I hope that like most of the members of my family, that I live to have a long and healthy life and live well into my 90s. And continue to write songs and be outstanding in my field. And if I do live that long, I hope that I shall always remember that this next song was the most important piece of work that I’ve ever written. And I hope that by the time that I reach that age that it will no longer be relevant.”
Heartbreaking because Nanci didn’t get to live the long and healthy life into her 90s that she hoped for and especially because It’s A Hard Life Wherever You Go is still relevant 27 years after she made that introduction and that she never got to see it no longer be relevant. Let’s hope that day will come. [Nanci Griffith passed away on August 13, 2021. She was 68.]
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First broadcast by BBC Radio 1 on October 29, 1994, the main source for this is captured from a BBC Radio 2 broadcast on May 5, 2022. This featured a modified tracklist from the original broadcast with 5 tracks missing and 4 added as well as some edited introductions. The missing parts have been patched in from the original broadcast using Soledriver’s FM capture and an unknown lineage FM recording.
Soledriver’s source ran a little slow in comparison to both the digital broadcast and the unknown FM source (which had a little more low level noise) so it was speed and level corrected to match the digital source. It provides Time Of Inconvenience, Are You Tired Of Me My Darling?, Going Back To Georgia, This Heart and the majority of It’s A Hard Life Wherever You Go as well as the introduction to Across The Great Divide and 8.5 seconds of the introduction to Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness. The last 1:30 of It’s A Hard Life Wherever You Go was missing on Soledrivers source and is patched from the unknown FM source.
More real Country Music . . . . . . . .now this is what I mean. The legendary tragic figure of Townes Van Zandt is an American poet of great note and of whom Steve Earle (another favourite) said
"Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that."
Pretty sure Bob felt much the same!
Townes Van Zandt died 24 years ago, on January 1, 1997 and this fine album dates from ten years earlier when he was settled with his third wife and their newborn son Will. You can hear his voice changing and it is not a perfect album by any means but the songwriting alone redeems it. His alcoholism presumably interrupted here while living the good life with wife and child but in ten years time he was dead from the effects of alcoholism and drug abuse. He was 52
Steve and Townes
Still the haunting sorrow of his voice, cracking at times, wavering on occasion seeps through these tales from Americana as only Van Zandt could express. Earle himself no stranger to the difficulties of substance abuse, misuse and otherwise at least he seems to have rescued himself from a similar fate. Now these album are both still commercially available (certainly here in the UK and while the solo album is down low in numbers Amazon claims they have more on order as opposed to approaching being out of print. 'Poet' the tribute seems to be readily available so if anyone wants me to take these down please just ask. I would encourage you to buy both and have provided links to UK Amazon to do just that. Both are well worth having.
What happens when a great poet dies is folks gather and celebrate their work and some folks admire the choice of contributors and others find fault in the selection. I defy you to make that judgemnt here as 'Poet' a tribute from all the greats of new country music join forces to sing the works of the great writer singer songster. Containing 16 cuts by a stellar cast that includes everyone from Willie Nelson and Nanci Griffith to Lucinda Williams and John Prine with lots of folks in between.
With Nanci Griffith singing her version of Townes' Tecumseh Valley which is how I first came across his work and am so pleased they did. We miss them both . . . . . .
