Nanci Griffith

We never miss Nanci Griffith when she is in town. This year was no exception. She was playing in the National Concert Hall last Thursday, which was much handier for us than the Helix. And it's a much nicer venue too. She played all the old favourites - Trouble in the Fields, Love at the Five and Dime, On the Radio, It's a hard life, and a few new songs too, from The Loving Kind album. Not that different from last year's concert. Very enjoyable. Maybe next time, I would like it if she brought a larger orchestra (she was playing with Pat McInerney on drums and Thomm Jutz on guitar and harmony vocals), for a fuller sound (although, half the time, the other musicians are sitting doing nothing while she is introducing her songs! That is one of the things I enjoy about her concerts, it's the stories that she tells, explaining how she wrote a song, or telling us about the songwriters who composed with her, or whose songs she has made her own.)

She is still in Ireland, playing in Navan tonight, then on to the Belfast Songwriters' Festival, and to Letterkenny, before she takes the tour to Australia. Quite a world tour. She was in Castleblayney last night, at the Iontas Arts & Community Resource Centre!