UPDATED - LOUDER STILL! (Other Voices Too - Nanci Griffith)

Member Name: lynn_bex

Product:	Other Voices Too - Nanci Griffith
Date:	17/06/01 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE

Disadvantages: Misery not allowed

OTHER VOICES TOO (A TRIP BACK TO BOUNTIFUL)

I've given this op the slightest tweak to update...

Nanci Griffith's current tour is absolutely WONDERFUL and she appeared with Tom Russell on the date I saw (see Canadian Whisky, below).

Try as I might, I cannot get a "Nanci Griffith Concert" listing and fear I'll have to write one in the "General" listings. In the meantime, if you haven't read this op before and you liked my others, please give this a try:

This, Nanci Griffith’s fifteenth album, completes her ambitious “Other Voices”
project, a personal history of folk music.

The project began with the magnificent “Other Voices/Other Rooms”, the Grammy award-winning album, satisfyingly self-financed by Nanci Griffith.

The liner notes to “Other Voices Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful)” begin:

“This project is dedicated to the memories of all the OTHER VOICES no longer traversing our earthbound radio airwaves… We will sing your songs often with great pride… LOUDLY…”

Thank you, Nanci. – We will… VERY LOUDLY…

There are so many artists on these recordings that I cannot possibly credit everyone (though I fully intend to mention my particular favourites!) - Nanci Griffith is ever present but frequently sings backing vocals, rather than lead. - I suggest that you run out and buy this CD immediately, then you can read the cover notes for yourselves!

1. Wall of Death (Words and Music by Richard Thompson)

A powerful folk/near-rock number kicks off the album with a wake-up call urging us to live life to the full. I was never brave enough for the wall of death (and my best roller-coaster days are probably behind me), nonetheless I love this message.

“Let me ride on the wall of death one more time/Let me ride on the wall of death one m
ore time/You can waste your time on the other rides/But this is the closest to being alive/Oh let me take my chances on the wall of death”

And it’s perfectly true, round and round we may go, but “…You’re going nowhere when you ride on the carousel…”

– A great song, a terrific version. Well worth singing VERY LOUDLY INDEED

2. Who Knows Where the Time Goes (Words and Music by Sandy Denny)

<br>Such a haunting song and the Fairport Convention connection (both Richard Thompson [the track above] and Sandy Denny were with the band) is clever. This is a lovely version of a lovely song.

Sandy Denny died in 1978 at the tragically young age of 37. I’m glad she is one of the other voices we are singing… But this one shouldn’t be sung too loudly. We need to savour the moment, for “Who does know where the time goes”?

3. You Were On My Mind (Words and Music by Sylvia Fricker)

We can turn the volume up again for this one, a great foot-stomping song. I love these lyrics “I woke up this morning, you were on my mind… I got some aches…. I got some pains… …Went to the corner …Just to ease my pain… I got drunk… I got sick… ..I came home again”

Most of us have been somewhere along this road… LET’S SING IT VERY LOUDLY (at least until our headaches get better!)

4. Walk Right Back (Words and Music by Sonny Curtis)

This is one of my favourites, not least because I have a soft spot for Sonny Curtis and his fellow Crickets. Here we have Nanci Griffith backed by Sonny Curtis, Joe B Maudlin and J I Allison. - Lovely stuff that swings along beautifully.

5. Canadian Whiskey (Words and Music by Tom Russell)

A great story song with the wonderful lines “She drank Canadian whiskey/Pure blended wiskey/She drank it
like wine”. – You’ll have to listen to the song if you want to know why.

6. Desperadoes Waiting For a Train (Words and Music by Guy Clark)

I have several other recordings of this song, but this is a terrific version with, apart from Nanci Griffith, vocals by Guy Clark and fellow country stars Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Eric Taylor (the latter Nanci’s former husband).

This is a thought-provoking track about the passage of time and I understand Guy Clark’s song better with each passing year.

7. Wings of a Dove (Words and Music by Bob Ferguson)

I could almost “get religion” on the strength of this new version of a familiar song. Lucinda Williams sings lead vocal with wonderful harmonies by Nanci Griffith and Lee Satterfield; by the time the snow white dove signals that Noah’s worst troubles are over, I’m singing unsuitably loudly and wondering where I can get a tambourine. - Lovely song, beautifully sung.

8. Dress of Laces (Words and Music by John Grimaudo and Saylor White)

Another excellent story song, but such a sad story that I don’t think I can describe it without depressing us all.

Here we have backing vocals by the lovely Lyle Lovett. - I refuse to mention which movie star he was married to… For goodness sake, what’s his “ex” got to do with anything? (In the unlikely event that anyone who doesn’t know the answer actually cares, I will provide the answer under plain cover upon request.)

9. Summer Wages (Words and Music by Ian Tyson)

This is great, and we’re getting louder again!

An educational song, this one: “Never hit seventeen/When you play against the dealer/You know that the odds won’t ride with you/And never leave your woman alone/With your friends around to steal her/She’ll be gambled
and gone/Like summer wages”. Wonderful!

10. He Was a Friend of Mine (Words and Music - Traditional.
Adapted by Dave Van Ronk & Eric Von Schmidt)

We probably all half-remember this traditional song and this is a stomping version.

We should sing VERY LOUDLY INDEED because we are protesting about our friend: “He died on the road/He died on the road/Never had no money for to pay for sufficient clothes/(He was a friend)/He was a friend of mine”.

11. Hard Times Come Again No More (Poetry and Music by Stephen Collins Foster)[Public Domain]

I initially accepted this song at face value (even though it said “Poetry”, rather than “words” and music), and happily joined the rousing chorus:

“’tis the song, the sigh of the weary/Hard times, hard times come again no more/Many days you have lingered/Around my cabin door/Oh hard times come again no more”.

After a bit, I paid a more attention to the verses and a few doubts crept in…

First Verse:

“Let us pause in life’s pleasures and count its many tears [so far, so good]/While we all sup sorrow with the poor [Pardon?]) …[Verse continues…]” (Followed by excellent chorus, above)

Next Verse

“While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay/There are frail forms fainting at the door/Though their voices are silent, their pleading forms will say/Oh hard times come again no more”.

It was probably poetic licence (?), but I have decided to reserve judgement on this track!


12. Wasn’t That a Mighty Storm (Traditional. Arrangement by Tom Rush & Eric Von Schmidt)

Not just a story song, but a true historical report of the storm of 1900 that brought death and destruction to the port of Galveston. Wow! A mighty storm report, - with lots of VERY LOUD VOICES. Another educational song! r><br><br>
13. Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) (Words and Music by Woody Guthrie and Martin Hoffman)

I have several earlier versions of this song in my collection, and what a good song it is. We are introduced to the individuals providing cheap Mexican labour who, when their work is complete, become “nameless” deportees killed in a plane crash as they are flown back across the border.

There is justifiable anger here: “Is this the best way/We can grow our big orchards?/Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit/To fall like dry leaves/And rot on my topsoil/And be known by no name/Except deportee”.

Another excellent track, with lots of angry vocals.

14. Yarrington Town (Words and Music by Mickie Merkens)

This is a lovely, gentle song about finding yourself – and working out where that self belongs. Lots of female voices on this track, including Emmylou Harris. – I suppose it’s a “girly” song, but the best blokes have a feminine side

Nice.

15. I Still Miss Someone (Words and Music by Johnny Cash and Roy Cash Junior)

This is an excellent version of the Johnny Cash song co-written with his brother, Roy. – A nice Nanci Griffith touch means that here we have a duet vocal by the wonderful, and often under-rated, singer/songwriter Rodney Crowell, (former son-in-law of Johnny Cash).

Maybe this is my favourite track on the album. Nanci Griffith and Rodney Crowell, plus (I see now) the Crickets are here again…

Wonderful, I love it.

16. Try the Love (Words and Music by Pat McLaughlin)

Another treasure of a song with its writer, Pat McLaughlin, singing lead.

It seems that he got this relationship all wrong last time around and now he’s pleading for another chance and begging the lady to “Try the love”. - I hope it works out but fear the worst!

17
. Streets of Baltimore (Words and Music by Harlan Howard and Tompall Glaser)

A classic country song, and again I have several earlier versions in my collection. This is excellent, with John Prine singing duet vocal and the rare treat of legendary songwriter Harlan Howard adding a spoken narrative.

Excellent!

18. Darcy Farrow (Words and Music by Tom Campbell and Steve Gillette)

To me, Nanci Griffith can do no wrong. However, this is my least favourite track – probably because I’m too shallow to appreciate the lyrics, which I précis as follows:

Darcy Farrow was a fair maiden with an attentive handsome boyfriend called young Vandermeer. Her horse stumbled, she fell off and was killed, whereupon young Vandy shot himself and they were buried together.

I think you call this sort of unaccompanied singing “cappella” (– and I only know that because there was once a minor EastEnders’ character who sang a similar dirge in the “caff”). It is beautifully sung but, for my taste, the words could do with a bit more of a lift. – Sorry, Nanci.

19. If I Had A Hammer (The Hammer Song) (Words and Music by Pete Seger and Lee Hayes)

This has cheered me up no end and we are ending on a definite high.

I shall continue to sing this song VERY, VERY, LOUDLY for years to come, and I’ll think of Nanci Griffith and her wonderful “Other Voices” project every time I hear it.

This album is a treasure.

Nanci Griffith is WONDERFUL!

lynn_bex