Seguin, Texas born 1994 Grammy Award winning folk singer, guitarist songwriter Nanci Griffith has sadly passed away at the age of 68.
Her career spanned a variety of musical genres, predominantly country, folk, and what she herself termed “folkabilly.”
A statement from her management company today confirmed her death, with no cause being provided.
Griffith worked closely with many top folk singers, such as the great John Prine, Don McLean, Jimmy Buffett, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Webb, Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris and the very best of Irish performers including Mary Black, Dolores Keane, Maura O’Connell and The Chieftains.
Possibly Nanci was best known here in Ireland for her recording of “From A Distance”, which would later become a well-known Bette Midler hit.
Griffith’s high school boyfriend, John, died in a motorcycle accident after taking her to the senior prom, and subsequently inspired many of her songs.
[“There’s A Light Beyond These Woods (Mary Margaret)”]
“Have you met my new boy friend, Margaret?
His name is John, and he rides my bus to school,
And he holds my hand.
He’s fourteen, he’s my older man.
But we’ll still be the best of friends,
The three of us, Margaret, John, and I.“
“But here I am in Denver
Sippin’ the California wine
And I’ve got all night to remember you
I’m in a lone star state of mind”
Nanci was later married to singer-songwriter Eric Taylor from 1976 to 1982. In the early 1990s, she became engaged to singer-songwriter Tom Kimmel, but the couple never married.
In ár gcroíthe go deo.
Leave a Reply