Other Voices, Other Rooms
Seventeen songs by the writers who shaped her, sung with many of them, and a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Nanci Griffith, 1993
- Released
- 2 March 1993
- Recorded
- August to December 1992
- Studio
- Jack's Tracks and Sound Emporium, Nashville; Windmill Lane, Dublin; Bob's Place, Los Angeles
- Label
- Elektra
- Producer
- Jim Rooney
- Length
- 1:02:08
Her first album for Elektra grew out of True Voices, a covers project she began in 1990, and took its title from Truman Capote's novel. Jim Rooney produced it in Nashville, Dublin and Los Angeles. The songs run from Kate Wolf, Townes Van Zandt and Gordon Lightfoot to Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, who plays harmonica on Boots of Spanish Leather, and most carry a guest: Emmylou Harris, Arlo Guthrie, John Prine, Guy Clark, Carolyn Hester and Iris DeMent. Odetta leads the closing Wimoweh, with the Indigo Girls, Prine, John Hartford and Leo Kottke among the chorus.
It reached 54 on the Billboard 200, 18 in the UK, six in Ireland and ten in Norway, won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album, and went gold in the US in 2005. AllMusic gave it four and a half stars. With Joe Jackson she later wrote a companion book, Other Voices: A Personal History of Folk Music (1998).
Track listing
- Across the Great Divide3:57
- Woman of the Phoenix2:41
- Tecumseh Valley4:29
- Three Flights Up3:31
- Boots of Spanish Leather5:17
- Speed of the Sound of Loneliness4:20
- From Clare to Here5:11
- Can't Help but Wonder Where I'm Bound3:16
- Do-Re-Mi2:52
- This Old Town3:00
- Comin' Down in the Rain3:45
- Ten Degrees and Getting Colder2:40
- Morning Song for Sally4:55
- Night Rider's Lament3:57
- Are You Tired of Me Darling?3:11
- Turn Around3:19
- Wimoweh1:47
Personnel
- Nanci Griffith vocals, guitar
- Pete Kennedy lead acoustic guitar
- Stuart Duncan mandolin, violin
- Bela Fleck banjo on This Old Town
- Chet Atkins guitar on Are You Tired of Me Darling? and Turn Around
- Alison Krauss violin on Woman of the Phoenix
- Edgar Meyer bass on Woman of the Phoenix
- Bob Dylan harmonica on Boots of Spanish Leather
- John Prine vocals on Speed of the Sound of Loneliness
- Jim Rooney producer
More from Nanci Griffith
The Last of the True Believers (1986), Lone Star State of Mind (1987)
Sources
- Other Voices, Other Rooms (Nanci Griffith album), Wikipedia
- Classic Americana Albums: Other Voices, Other Rooms, Americana UK (2023-03-01)
- Nanci Griffith album notes, Mainly Norfolk