Nanci Griffith was one of America’s great songwriters. Yet at the height of her career, she did something remarkable: she turned the spotlight away from herself.
With Other Voices, Other Rooms and Other Voices, Too, Nanci celebrated the writers, singers and songs that had formed her—from Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and John Prine to Kate Wolf, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Odetta and Sandy Denny.
But the story is even richer on film.
It begins with Nanci sitting on the diving board of her old high-school swimming pool, singing and remembering where it all began. We follow her from the Texas folk scene through a remarkable series of David Letterman appearances, where a professional relationship grows into genuine affection. At one point Letterman simply tells her: “I love your music, I love your work and I love you!”
Then comes the extraordinary gathering of friends surrounding Other Voices—musicians sharing songs, memories and a tradition that was never really owned by any one performer.
We revisit the unforgettable all-star performance of Guy Clark’s “Desperados Waiting for a Train,” and then travel across the Atlantic for Other Voices, Too, where Nanci’s remarkable relationship with Ireland and the British and Irish folk traditions comes to the foreground.
Dolores Keane. Sandy Denny. Dave Van Ronk. Emmylou Harris. Guy Clark. Townes Van Zandt. John Prine. Odetta. And so many more.
This isn’t simply the story of two albums.
It’s the story of a songwriter who understood that songs are handed down—from writer to singer, friend to friend, generation to generation.
Nanci Griffith spent much of her life preserving other voices.
In the end, those other voices helped preserve Nanci.
