William Dart remembers Nanci Griffith, the American singer-songwriter who died in 2021.
Mark Guarino, writing about her in The Guardian, described her as a singer resolute to Woody Guthrie's maxim that a guitar and a song remained steady weapons to slay the worst of us.
Now her music is put in the spotlight by a new tribute album, titled More than a Whisper (Rounder Records), with musicians from Mary Gautier and Iris DeMent to John Prine and Lyle Lovett paying their respects.
Music Details
ARTIST: Nanci Griffith
TITLE: From a Distance
ALBUM: Nanci Griffith: The MCA Years
COMPOSER: Gold
LABEL: MCA
ARTIST: Nanci Griffith
TITLE: Trouble in the Fields
ALBUM: Nanci Griffith: The MCA Years
COMPOSER: Griffith
LABEL: MCA
ARTIST: Nanci Griffith
TITLE: If I had a Hammer
ALBUM: Where Have all the Flowers Gone: The Songs of Pete Seeger
COMPOSER: Seeger
LABEL: Appleseed
ARTIST: Nanci Griffith
TITLE: Come on up Mississippi
ALBUM: Intersection
COMPOSER: Griffith
LABEL: Proper
ARTIST: Nanci Griffith, Iris DeMent
TITLE: Ten Degrees and Getting Colder
ALBUM: Other Voices, Other Rooms
COMPOSER: Lightfoot
LABEL: Elektra
ARTIST: Mary Gautier
TITLE: More than a Whisper
ALBUM: More than a Whisper
COMPOSER: Griffith, Nelson
LABEL: Rounder
ARTIST: Lyle Lovett, Kathy Mattea
TITLE: Trouble in the Fields
ALBUM: More than a Whisper
COMPOSER: Griffith
LABEL: Rounder
ARTIST: Shaun Colvin
TITLE: Outbound Plane
ALBUM: More than a Whisper
COMPOSER: Griffith
LABEL: Rounder
ARTIST: John Prine, Kelsey Waldon
TITLE: Love at the Five & Dime
ALBUM: More than a Whisper
COMPOSER: Griffith
LABEL: Rounder