Other Voices, Other Rooms

Performer: Nanci Griffith
Artist: Guy Clark; Bob Dylan; Arlo Guthrie; Gordon Lightfoot; Odetta; John Prine; Bela Fleck; Emmylou Harris; Jimmie Dale Gilmore; Tom Paxton; Carolyn Hester; Iris DeMent; Townes Van Zandt
Engineer: Mark Miller
Producer: Jim Rooney
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Nanci Griffith (vocals, acoustic guitar); Pete Cummins, Carolyn Hester, Iris DeMent, Don Edwards (vocals); Guy Clark (acoustic guitar, vocals), Lee Satterfield (acoustic guitar, background vocals); Phillip Donnelly, Pete Kennedy (acoustic & electric guitars); Frank Christian, Pat Flynn (acoustic guitar); Stuart Duncan (mandolin, violin); John Hartford (banjo, vocals); Alison Krauss (violin); Andrea Zonn (viola); John Catchings (cello); James Hooker (piano, keyboards, Hammond B-3, background vocals); Roy Huskey, Jr. (acoustic bass, vocals); Edgar Meyer (acoustic bass); Fran Breen, Pat McInerney (drums, percussion); Mary Ann Kennedy (percussion, background vocals); Pam Rose, Holly & Barry Tashian, John Gorka, Dave Mallett, Marlin Griffith, Jim Rooney (background vocals). Additional guest artists: Chet Atkins (guitar); Leo Kottke (acoustic 12-string guitar); Indigo Girls (vocals). Recorded at Jack's Tracks Recording Studio and Sound Emporium, Nashville, Tennessee; Windmill Lane Studios and Rings End Road, Dublin, Ireland; Bob's Place, Los Angeles, California. Includes liner notes by Jim Rooney and Nanci Griffith. OTHER VOICES, OTHER ROOMS won the 1994 Grammy Award for "Contemporary Folk Album." Additional guest artists: Jerry Jeff Walker, Carolyn Hester, Ann Richards. Filmed at Austin's Paramount Theater in 1993. Personnel: Nanci Griffith (vocals, acoustic guitar); Guy Clark (vocals, acoustic guitar); Iris DeMent (vocals, gut-string guitar); John Hartford (vocals, banjo); James Hooker (vocals, piano, organ, keyboards); Mary Ann Kennedy (vocals, percussion); David Mallett, Emily Saliers, Marlin Griffith, Jim Rooney, John Gorka, John Prine, Amy Ray, Odetta, Pamela Rose, Barry & Holly Tashian, Barry Tashian (vocals); Chet Atkins (guitar, acoustic guitar, classical guitar); Pat Flynn, Pete Kennedy (guitar, acoustic guitar); Philip Donnelly (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Lee Satterfield, Frank Christian (acoustic guitar); Leo Kottke (12-string guitar); Emmylou Harris, Pete Cummins, Arlo Guthrie, Carolyn Hester (gut-string guitar); B�la Fleck (banjo); Stuart Duncan (mandolin, violin); Alison Krauss (violin); Andrea Zonn (viola); John Catchings (cello); Bob Dylan (harmonica); Roy M. "Junior" Husky (upright bass); Fran Breen (drums, percussion); Pat McInerney (percussion). Liner Note Author: Nanci Griffith. Unknown Contributor Roles: Don Edwards; Nanci Griffith. Nanci Griffith has the kind of beguiling singing voice that's effortless and easily beautiful -- like a pretty girl who doesn't ever need makeup to be radiant. Sounding a little bit like Emmylou Harris is never a bad thing, but Griffith doesn't stop there. She duets with Harris and a host of other country and folk notables on Other Voices, Other Rooms, her first collection of cover songs. Like Harris, Griffith can climb inside a character-driven song with a simple twist of inflection or a lingering note. This is what she does on Vince Bell's "Woman of the Phoenix," deftly painting images of a winter freeze, cacti, and Michael, the "rock 'n' roll hood from the Odessa plains." Dylan's "Boots of Spanish Leather" rambles like the Texas countryside and features the man himself on harmonica. The guest list for Other Voices really is incredible. Alison Krauss, John Gorka, Edgar Meyer, Amy Ray, and Emily Saliers -- it's a regular homespun who's who. There's plenty to sigh about here, and occasionally the album can almost be too tasteful for its own good. But raveups like Woody Guthrie's "Do-Re-Mi" let Griffith trade some serenity for dustbowl grit (the addition of John Prine's lascivious gruffness helps a lot, too), and the frustrated anger of "This Old Town" only supports this. What might be most refreshing about Other Voices, Other Rooms is its ability to access the warm tones of country, grassroots, 1960s folk, and the '70s songwriting tradition while still sounding more like it comes from Griffith's Texas roots than anywhere else. This is highly recommended for fans of Griffith or any of the like-minded artists who help out here. ~ Johnny Loftus

Rolling Stone (4/13/93, pp.62-64) - 3 Stars - Good - "...a reverential nod to old friends....for songwriters like Griffith and her cronies, the lyric is still as mighty as the groove or the guitar riff..." Spin (3/93, p.73) - Highly Recommended - "...Griffith and her guests breathe new life into most of the material...OTHER VOICES is less a folk-song primer than a collection of tunes picked for their musical and lyrical strengths, recorded in such a way as to recapture their innocence..." NME (Magazine) (3/20/93, p.32) - 7 - Very Good - "...as an interpretive artist, Griffith brings alive the characters in every song much in the same way as her hero Woody Guthrie....one of this generation's most important and talented voices..."

Nanci Griffith has been a shining light in the American roots music community since the 1980s. Considered the female equivalent of maverick singer-songwriters such as Lyle Lovett and Dwight Yoakam, Griffith made several stellar albums that blended country, folk, and twangy rockabilly (she's an avowed Buddy Holly & the Crickets fan) into a sound distinctly her own. The Texas native recorded two albums of cover songs that made clear her influences extended well beyond the Lone Star state, and in 2007 she released RUBY'S TORCH, an album of pop standards and ballads that further extended her grasp on vintage American music.

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