Singer known for resonant stories
Nanci Griffith would have a secure space in the pantheon of Texas singer-songwriters even if she had only recorded two songs, “The Last of the True Believers” and “Love at the Five and Dime.”
Those two songs open her 1986 masterpiece album, “The Last of the True Believers.” But that was hardly the first of Griffith’s great recordings, and it also wasn’t the last.
Griffith specialized in creating emotionally resonant stories in miniature delivered with the sound of a songbird. “Love at the Five and Dime” is a remarkable construction, a story collection with multiple characters and settings about those finding love or connection despite all manner of complications.
Griffith — a Seguin native who grew up in Austin and was a fixture on Houston’s singer-songwriter scene in the ’70s and ’80s — died Friday morning, according to a close friend. She was 68. Although Griffith had twice dealt with cancer, dating back to the 1990s, a statement from a representative said she died of natural causes.
Though she grew quiet over the past decade, she issued nearly 20 albums across nearly a half century. They were little shadowboxes: lovingly assembled collections of details and stories that she sung with empathy.
“She could bring a character to life like nobody I ever knew except maybe Larry McMurtry,” said Joy Lewallen, a longtime friend and a volunteer at Anderson Fair who met Griffith at the beginning of the musician’s career. “Like McMurtry, she believed in her characters and they became real. She knew their his
tory and made you want know them, too.
“She put those stories with the most haunting melodies, and she had the voice of an angel. I’d put her in the same league as Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark. She was their peer, and they respected her that way.”
In addition to being a great songwriter, Griffith was a brilliant interpreter. Her early albums were dotted with originals as well as occasional covers.
“She didn’t sound like anybody else,” said Lyle Lovett, who credits with Griffith with landing him his first gig at Houston’s Anderson Fair. “There are a handful of distinctive voices that sound only like themselves no matter what they’re singing. Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen. You always knew when it was Nanci singing. Her own songs were so powerful, but she also owned every other song she sang.”
Her voice was high and lonesome but also imbued with a strength and defiance. Her “Other Voices, Other Rooms” found Griffith interpreting songs by Van Zandt, John Prine, Bob Dylan, Jerry Jeff Walker, Gordon Lightfoot and a rash of other male songwriters. She brought something new to every song, earning a Grammy for her work.
Griffith was part of a fertile scene that sprung from Anderson Fair, and like Lovett she found some success in Nashville in the 1980s with a few albums that weren’t bona fide hits, though they found a fervent following.
“Lone Star State of Mind,” released in 1987 and “Little Love Affairs” from a year later both broke into the Top 40 on Billboard’s country albums charts. “Storms” from 1989 wasn’t quite as beloved by country fans, but found Griffith courting a more durable audience of folk music fans who devoured her ’90s work including “Other Voices” and “Flyer,” a record that found Griffith not pandering to a radio format and finding increasing rewards from discerning listeners who sought out her work.
Griffith grew up in Austin with music in the household. Her father, a printer and publisher, also sang in a barbershop quartet. At 6 she picked up the guitar and learned by watching a tutorial show on television. She wrote her first song before she was a teenager inspired by hearing folk singer Carolyn Hester on the radio. She graduated from the University of Texas and worked as a kindergarten teacher in the early 1970s while also making appearances in Austin, particularly at the Hole in the Wall.
She and songwriter Eric Taylor met and were married in 1976, before splitting up in the early 1980s. Taylor, who died in March 2020, described her stage manner as “arresting.”
“Rooms got deathly quiet when she sang,” he told the Houston Chronicle.
Even with her successes, Griffith remained dedicated to finding new talent. Lovett credits her with nurturing his fledgling career, as well as that of other musicians in Texas. He booked her at the Basement Coffee House in College Station and opened the show for her. Griffith was drawn to his song “Walk Through the Bottomland,” and asked to sing it with him at a second show.
“She introduced me to Anderson Fair,” he said. “Nanci always sought out people who were starting out, and she helped give them a hand. She was so kind to me, and she did so much for me.”
Griffith left Texas in 1986 for Nashville, where her management and publishing representatives were based.
“It’s easier now to be on the road because Nashville is more in the center of the country,” she told the Chronicle. “It takes a day and a night to drive out of Texas no matter how you look at it.”
Her following in Texas, though, didn’t waver. Regardless of where she called home, her song creation and curation was always meticulous.
“My favorite songs have always been my character songs,” she told the Chronicle. “I really like writing songs about characters, and especially about middle America.”
She recalled a fan saying Mary Margaret, a character in “There’s a Light Beyond These Woods,” had to be a neighbor.
“Well,” she said, “Mary doesn’t really live next door to them, but they are people that everyone knows.”
Griffith is survived by her father, brother and sister. No memorial service is planned.