Like Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon, Nanci Griffith relies on an understated delivery that belies her songs' countrypolitan ease. The Texas-bred songwriter has traversed the realms of folk, country, pop and Celtic during her three-decade career. Her biggest hits have been penned for other performers (Kathy Mattea, Suzy Bogguss), but Griffith's own voice as a writer has also endured, despite its occasional misappropriation in the hit-hungry pop machine. Since surviving battles with breast and thyroid cancer, Griffith has released an album of torch songs and followed her whims with her omnipresent acoustic guitar and Blue Moon Orchestra.
“Boots of Spanish Leather,” performed by Nanci Griffith:
