Nanci Griffith

A highly-respected, Grammy-winning songwriter who describes her sound as 'folkabilly', Nanci Griffith's fragile voice and wry, warm way with lyrics made her one of the great female country-folk troubadours of the '80s and '90s. Born July 6, 1953 in Seguin, Texas, USA to beatnik, hippy parents, she started performing at the age of 14 when an act cancelled at a club in Austin run by a family friend and she took the stage instead. She played in bands throughout her college years before working as a kindergarten teacher. She met folk songwriter Tom Russell at a campfire at the Kerrville Folk Festival and he championed her. She turned professional in 1977 and released her debut album There's a Light Beyond These Woods and Kathy Mattea and Suzy Boggus both had success with versions of her songs in the mid-80s before she eventually made it to Nashville for her major-label debut Lone Star State of Mind in 1987, and scored a top 40 country hit with the title track. It was from that album that her version of Julie Gold's “From a Distance” became a Number 1 hit in Ireland, but it was the small-town spirit and natural intimacy in her own songs that started to draw people in too. Her albums Other Voices, Other Rooms and Flyer both made the UK top 20 in the '90s and her track “Love at the Five and Dime” from The Last of the True Believers (1986) seemed to best capture her talent for romantic, observational lyrics. Throughout her 40-year career she released more than 20 albums and record with acts as diverse as The Chieftains, Emmylou Harris, and Buddy Holly's backing band The Crickets. Nanci Griffith died August 13, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee.