Renowned folk singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith dies

We are saddened to hear that Nanci Griffith, the Grammy-winning folk singer-songwriter from Texas passed away today. She was 68.

Her death was confirmed by her management company, Gold Mountain Entertainment. They said in a statement: “It was Nanci’s wish that no further formal statement or press release happen for a week following her passing.”

Griffith worked closely with other folk singers, helping the early careers of artists like Lyle Lovett and Emmylou Harris.

As a songwriter, some of Griffith’s greatest hits include Kathy Mattea’s cover of “Love at the Five and Dime” and Suzy Bogguss’s hit with “Outbound Plane.”

Griffith was also known for her recording of “From a Distance,” which would later become a hit for Bette Midler. That cover appeared on her first major label release, Lone Star State of Mind in 1987.

She released her 1978 debut album There’s a Light Beyond These Woods, which documented a live performance in Austin, after winning a songwriting prize at the Kerrville Folk Festival. She recorded a second album, 1982’s Poet in My Window, on another regional label before she signed with Philo and got national distribution for her albums Once in a Very Blue Moon and The Last of the True Believers. Her final album would come out in 2012 with the indie-label project Intersection.

We have lost a true champion of the craft who influenced so many in her wake, leaving her achingly honest voice silenced.

Nanci Griffith performing at ACLU Freedom Concert, 2004