Nanci Griffith dies at age 68: The Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter best known for the song Love At The Five And Dime passes away
- The Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith has died at 68
- Management company Gold Mountain Entertainment said she passed on Friday
- There was no cause of death given for the Texas native who grew up in Austin
- ‘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
- The Texas native was known for her song Love At The Five And Dime
- Once in a Very Blue Moon and It’s A Hard Life Wherever You Go were also hits
The Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith has died at the age of 68.
Her management company, Gold Mountain Entertainment, said Griffith passed away on 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.
The Texas native was known for her literary songs like Love At The Five And Dime, Once in a Very Blue Moon and It’s A Hard Life Wherever You Go.
Sad loss for the US: The Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith has died at the age of 68. Seen in 2004 in New York
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.
The star 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.
Hard to say goodbye to this icon: Her management company, Gold Mountain Entertainment, said Griffith passed away on Friday but did not provide a cause of death; seen in 2009 with John Prine in Nashville
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.
A loved folk singer: In 2008, Griffith won the Lifetime Achievement Trailblazer Award from the Americana Music Association. Seen in 2011 in Nashville
She was born in Seguin, Texas, and raised in Austin where she performed as a young lady.
Nanci wrote her first song, A New Generation, and played her first show at age 12, according to Texas Monthly.
After attending University of Texas she hoped to become a teacher. But then in the late Seventies she gave a career as a musician a try. In 1978 came There’s a Light Beyond These Woods.
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.’
Her early days: 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. Seen in 1989
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’ left us,’ Bogguss wrote.
Darius Rucker called Griffith one of his idols and why he moved to Nashville.
‘Today i am just sad man. I lost one of my idols. One of the reasons I am in Nashville. She blew my mind the first time I heard [Mary &] Omie. And singing with her was my favorite things to do,’ he wrote.
She gained many fans in Ireland and Northern Ireland, where she would often tour.
Griffith was married to performer Eric Taylor from 1976 until their divorce in 1982.
Country queen: She was born in Seguin, Texas, and raised in Austin where she performed as a young lady. After attending University of Texas she hoped to become a teacher. But then in the late Seventies she gave a career as a musician a try. In 1978 came There’s a Light Beyond These Woods. Seen in 2004 in Boston
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