In 2021, the music industry lost one of its finest talents: singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Nanci Griffith. The Texas-born, GRAMMY Award-winning artist, who would have celebrated her 70th birthday next week, was revered for her compelling storytelling, her distinctive vocals, and her special brand of Americana (which she dubbed “folkabilly”). During her nearly 45-year career, Griffith released 18 studio albums, placed multiple singles on Billboard’s country charts, made regular appearances on The David Letterman Show and Austin City Limits, and saw many of her songs become hits for other artists including Dolly Parton. Along her journey, she amassed countless fans – several of whom, including Darius Rucker, the Indigo Girls, and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck collaborated with her over the years.
Griffith’s legacy will be honoured through two special releases arriving this September. The first, ‘Working in Corners,’ reissues Griffith’s earliest – and long out-of-print – albums, including her 1978 debut, ‘There’s a Light Beyond These Woods’, 1982’s ‘Poet in My Window’, 1984’s ‘Once in a Very Blue Moon’, and 1986’s ‘The Last of the True Believers’ (featuring “Love at the Five and Dime” and “Goin’ Gone”). Rounding out the collection are rare photos and ephemera, plus liner notes by Holly Gleason and producer Jim Rooney, who worked closely with Griffith during this period. Rooney, who co-produced the box set, also weaves in memories from a range of Griffith’s friends, peers, and collaborators. Set for release on September 8th via Craft Recordings, ‘Working in Corners’ will be available as 4-CD and 4-LP vinyl box sets, while ‘There’s a Light Beyond These Woods’, ‘Poet in My Window’, and ‘Once in a Very Blue Moon’ will make their long-awaited return to digital platforms.
Griffith’s music will also be celebrated through the all-star tribute, ‘More Than a Whisper: Celebrating The Music of Nanci Griffith’. Arriving September 22nd via Rounder Records on vinyl, CD, and digital, the album features Griffith’s friends, collaborators, and fans interpreting her best-known songs, including Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett and Kathy Mattea, Shawn Colvin, John Prine and Kelsey Waldon, Sarah Jarosz, Steve Earle, and Mary Gauthier, who also shares her admiration for Griffith in liner notes. Recorded over several years in studios across the US, the tribute album also includes contributions from Brandy Clark, Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle, Iris DeMent, Todd Snider, and Aaron Lee Tasjan, while Ida Mae and The War and Treaty both appear exclusively on the expanded CD, digital, and HD versions of the album. All proceeds from it will benefit Nashville’s Cumberland Heights, a non-profit treatment facility for those affected by drug and alcohol addiction.
‘More Than a Whisper: Celebrating The Music of Nanci Griffith’ Tracklist (CD/Digital)
1. You Can’t Go Home Again (Sarah Jarosz)
2. Love at the Five & Dime (John Prine, Kelsey Waldon)
3. Listen to the Radio (Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle)
4. Love Wore a Halo (Back Before the War) (Emmylou Harris)
5. Trouble in the Fields (Lyle Lovett, Kathy Mattea)
6. Gulf Coast Highway (Brandy Clark)
7. Outbound Plane (Shawn Colvin)
8. Radio Fragile (Ida Mae)*
9. It’s a Hard Life Wherever You Go (Steve Earle)
10. Late Night Grande Hotel (Aaron Lee Tasjan)
11. Ford Econoline (Todd Snider)
12. Banks of the Pontchartrain (Iris DeMent)
13. More Than a Whisper (Mary Gauthier)
14. From a Distance (The War and Treaty)*
*CD/Digital exclusive
