Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith dies
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nanci Griffith, the Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter from Texas whose literary songs like “Love at the Five and Dime” celebrated the South, has died. She was 68.
Her management company, Gold Mountain Entertainment, said Griffith died Friday but did not provide a cause of death.
“It was Nanci’s wish that no further formal statement or press release happen for a week following her passing,” Gold Mountain Entertainment said in a statement.
Griffith worked closely with other folk singers, helping the early careers of artists like Lyle Lovett and Emmylou Harris. She had a high-pitched voice, and her singing was effortlessly smooth with a twangy Texas accent as she sang about Dust Bowl farmers and empty Woolworth general stores.
Griffith was also known for her recording of “From a Distance,” which would later become a well-known Bette Midler tune. The song appeared on Griffith's first major label release, “Lone Star State of Mind" in 1987.
Her 1993 album “Other Voices, Other Rooms,” earned a Grammy for best contemporary folk album. Named after a Truman Capote novel, the album features Griffith singing with Harris, John Prine, Arlo Guthrie and Guy Clark on classic folk songs.
In 2008, Griffith won the Lifetime Achievement Trailblazer Award from the Americana Music Association.
Country singer Suzy Bogguss, who had a Top 10 hit with Griffith's song “Outbound Plane,” posted a remembrance to her friend on Instagram.
“I feel blessed to have many memories of our times together along with most everything she ever recorded. I’m going to spend the day reveling in the articulate masterful legacy she’s left us,” Bogguss wrote.
Darius Rucker called Griffith one of his idols and why he moved to Nashville.
"Singing with her was my favorite things to do,” he wrote on Twitter.
Keeping in line with the tradition of folk music, Griffith often wrote social commentary into her songs, such as the anti-racist ode “It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go,” and the economic impact on rural farmers in the 1980s on “Trouble in the Fields.”
“I wrote it because my family were farmers in West Texas during the Great Depression,” Griffith told the Los Angeles Times in a 1990 interview. “It was written basically as a show of support for my generation of farmers.”
Griffith gained many fans in Ireland and Northern Ireland, where she would often tour.
Kristin M. Hall, The Associated Press
Nanci Griffith: Folk and country singer-songwriter dies aged 68
Her death was confirmed by management and her record label on Friday, without a cause of death being given.
The genre-straddling artist's best known songs include Love at the Five and Dime and the Outbound Plane, which others saw mainstream success with.
She is considered influential and recorded duets with artists like Willie Nelson across her long career.
Born in Seguin, Texas in 1953, Griffith began performing and releasing folk music while working as a nursery teacher in Austin in the 1970s.
She moved to Nashville in 1985, where she landed her first major record deal.
Griffith found country success with her recording of Nancy Gold's From a Distance, years before Bette Midler's version became a major hit.
Her style of music, which Griffith herself described as "folkabilly", was considered unique and blended musical genres.
She won a Grammy award in 1994 for her album Other Voices, Other Rooms which was made up of cover songs and musical collaborations.
She previously survived two bouts of cancer in the 1990s and continued to tour and produce music - with her final album released in 2012.
"It was Nanci's wish that no further formal statement or press release happen for a week following her passing," Gold Mountain Entertainment said in a statement.
Artists from the music world paid tribute after news of her death broke on Friday.
Country artist Suzy Bogguss shared a photograph of Griffith on Instagram and said her "heart was aching" with the loss.
Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, described Griffith as "a master songwriter who took every opportunity to champion kindred spirits".
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