The Last of the True Believers | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1986 | |||
Recorded | October 7–9, 1985 | |||
Studio | Cowboy Arms (Nashville, Tennessee) | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 35:16 | |||
Label | Philo | |||
Producer | Jim Rooney and Nanci Griffith [1] | |||
Nanci Griffith chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
Robert Christgau | B− [3] |
The Last of the True Believers is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith, released in 1986 by Philo Records. The acclaim accorded her from her previous album, Once in a Very Blue Moon , and this album earned her a contract with a major recording company. Here, Griffith continued her turn toward a more country-oriented work than her first two albums, which were primarily folk-sounding. It also includes two songs which were later hits for Kathy Mattea, "Love at the Five and Dime" from Walk the Way the Wind Blows (1986) and "Goin' Gone", her first number one, from Untasted Honey (1987).
The photograph on the album cover contains several references to the album's songs. A couple can be seen dancing behind Griffith standing in front of a Woolworth's store as described in "Love at the Five and Dime". The male dancer is Lyle Lovett, who also appears on the album as a vocalist. The man standing at far left is John T. Davis, at the time a music writer for the Austin American-Statesman .
As with other Griffith albums, she is pictured holding books by and/or about southern writers. On the front cover, she is holding a copy of The Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams by Donald Spoto. On the back cover, she is clutching Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. [4] [5]
The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [6]
It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards. [7]
All tracks are written by Nanci Griffith except where noted otherwise
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Last of the True Believers" | 2:47 | |
2. | "Love at the Five and Dime" | 4:33 | |
3. | "St. Olav's Gate" | Tom Russell | 3:03 |
4. | "More Than a Whisper" |
| 3:42 |
5. | "Banks of the Pontchartrain" | 3:39 | |
6. | "Lookin' for the Time (Workin' Girl)" | 2:43 | |
7. | "Goin' Gone" |
| 4:19 |
8. | "One of These Days" | 2:54 | |
9. | "Love's Found a Shoulder" | 2:19 | |
10. | "Fly by Night" | 2:36 | |
11. | "The Wing and the Wheel" | 2:41 |
Track listing and personnel from the album's liner notes. [1]
Nanci Caroline Griffith was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She appeared many times on the PBS music program Austin City Limits starting in 1985. In 1994 she won a Grammy Award for the album Other Voices, Other Rooms.
Lyle Pearce Lovett is an American country singer, songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded 14 albums and released 25 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man". Lovett has won four Grammy Awards, including Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Album. His most recent album is 12th of June, released in 2022.
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Other Voices, Other Rooms is the tenth studio album by American singer Nanci Griffith. It was released on March 2, 1993, by Elektra Records. Her first since leaving MCA Records, it consisted entirely of cover songs, in tribute to songwriters who influenced her own songwriting. Guest artists who appear in their own compositions included Frank Christian playing guitar on "Three Flights Up", Bob Dylan playing harmonica on "Boots of Spanish Leather", and John Prine lending harmony vocals on "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness". The album was titled after the Truman Capote novel of the same name.
There's a Light Beyond These Woods was singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith's debut album. It was recorded live to two-track over four days, December 9 to 11, 1977 and January 3, 1978, in Austin, Texas. Griffith wrote most of its songs, as she would on almost all of her subsequent albums.
Poet in My Window is the second studio album by the singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith, released in 1982. A reissue of the album included a bonus track, "Can't Love Wrong", in the unusual position as the album's lead-off track, preceding all of the original tracks. Griffith wrote all but one of the album's tunes.
Once in a Very Blue Moon is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith, released in 1985. The album had more of a country sound than her previous albums. Her first two albums were backed sparsely with instrumentation, but starting with this album, the whole complement of country-styled instrumentalists can be heard. Noted country musicians performing on the album include banjo player, Béla Fleck, champion fiddle player, Mark O'Connor, and pedal steel master, Lloyd Green. The title song was covered by Dolly Parton, who included her version on her Real Love album in 1985.
Lone Star State of Mind is the fifth studio album released by American musician Nanci Griffith, and her first album for MCA Records. With the album, Griffith's music took a turn from her original folk music base into more commercially viable country music. For this album, she enlisted the talents of veteran country producer Tony Brown. The album garnered her first appearance on the Billboard Country charts, rising to No. 23 on the Country Albums chart, and was her highest-charting album on the chart. It was also a massive success in the United Kingdom, where it topped the country albums chart and spent over a year in the top 20. The title track, "Lone Star State of Mind," became the first of only three Griffith singles to enter the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It peaked at No. 36, while two other singles from the album, "Cold Hearts/Closed Minds" and "Trouble in the Fields", reached No. 64 and No. 57 respectively. The song "From a Distance" would go on to become a major pop hit when covered by Bette Midler in 1990.
One Fair Summer Evening was Nanci Griffith's seventh album, and her first one recorded in a live setting. It was recorded on August 19 and August 20, 1988, at Anderson Fair, a Houston, Texas club long known for featuring folk artists in an intimate setting.
Storms was the eighth studio album released by singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith. When recording the album, Griffith chose to go in the direction of mainstream pop music. This was quite a musical change for her, as her previous albums had been folk and country music. Griffith enlisted the talents of noted rock music producer Glyn Johns for the musical style change. The album landed at No. 42 on the Billboard Country Albums chart, and at No. 99 on the Pop Albums chart in 1989. The last track on the album, "Radio Fragile", is about singer-songwriter Phil Ochs.
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The Dust Bowl Symphony is an album released by Nanci Griffith in 1999. It consists of songs Griffith had previously released on other albums, but re-recorded with an orchestral backing. The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with the London Symphony Orchestra. Darius Rucker duets with Griffith on "Love at The Five and Dime", and the album also has contributions from Sonny Curtis and Glen Hardin, Beth Nielsen Chapman and Griffith's own band, The Blue Moon Orchestra. The song "Waiting for Love", written by Griffith, from Blue Roses from the Moons was picked out by Griffith as giving the singer a "brief moment of being Edith Piaf".
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