Day three of Salut! Live's "song a day" homage to Nanci Griffith, whose death last Friday at 68 has caused enormous grief, even among those who mever met or perhaps never even saw her perform live. I fall into both categories but have nurtured growing respect and affection for her music over the past 35 years.
In this collection of tracks and live performances showcasing Nanci's talents, I find myself falling into the trap of following the suggestions of others. I don't mind that any more than Brer Rabbit minded being thrown by the fox into the briar patch because I am being guided by people who know her work well.
Urging me not to neglect examples of Nanci singing solo, with modest accompaniment or with her band, the Blue Moon Orchestra, my friend and fellow Sunderland supporters Malcolm Dawson gave special mention to The Wing and the Wheel
I cannot fault Malcolm's judgement: "a beautiful song that never fails to make me fill up – even more so when I played it after reading about her passing".
Nanci Griffith wrote the song for her fourth studio album, Last Of The True Believers , which has been described as underlining her move from folk to a more country sound. There was a time this would have put me off but I have grown to appreciate superior country music and this is a sensational performance.
I broke the conventional "Song of the Day" rule yesterday by including a second song.
So I shall leave it there, save to say that if you listen to The Wing and the Wheel and stay connected to YouTube, you will be rewarded – if it works for you as it did for me – by a clip of Nanci beautifully introducing and then singing Love at the Five and Dime in 1988 at Anderson Fair (which I believed to be a Texan folk and acoustic festival, but see John Sakamoto's comment below), also referred to by Malcolm. This is possibly the only song that ever made Woolworths seem romantic.
* For other items in this mini-series, and further tributes to Nanci Griffith, please go to this link.
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