The Last of the True Believers

Very pleasant in the most part. Good changes in tempo throughout the album as well. Just nothing particularly amazing or memorable for me.

This is a "nice" album. "Love at the Five and Dime" is a good song, highly nostalgic, not for anyone under the age of 50.

Nanci Griffith has an interesting unique singing voice. Kind of light, not quite "twee" but could go there, but still powerful.

Great country instrumentation - mandolins, pedal steel, dobro, fiddle - and this was my favorite thing about this album. Used to emphasize the emotion in the song instead of decorate. In fact, the music is at the service of the song on the whole album, no one is overplaying.

With a couple exceptions early on, nothing here is too moving or exciting. Pleasant though it is.

Not too screamy, not too experimental, not the most noteworthy album on this list. However, Nanci Griffith has a wonderful voice which has been wonderfully recorded here. I just really enjoyed listening to this. Perhaps the mood was right or perhaps I'm just a sucker for a well made country allbum, but this was pleasant.

Better than Coldplay.

Contemporary Folksy Country, not Country and Western... Just great singer/songwriter vibes that could have been transplanted from Laurel Canyon in the late 60s.

Worth the price of entry for Lotta Love alone.

Knowing nothing about country music, I can't help but compare every female singer to Dolly. Nanci has a lovely voice, the songs are simple and sweet, if not a little unrelatable to anyone not from a small Texas town.

A solid country album. Really enjoyed this one. Ashley thought it sounded like the Indigo Girls.

Great voice, and I love the instrumentation. The songwriting to me is lacking. I didn’t connect with any of the songs. They just seemed shallow to me. They’re stories but they don’t go anywhere or have any purpose. She’s like the female James Taylor but the songs aren’t relatable.

Quite gentile. Not really my bag but well done and beautifully made.

Having never heard of Nanci Griffith before, I was fully expecting to trash this album, but it turned out strangely endearing.

January 6th, 2025

Goshdarnit, I rolled my eyes about 10 seconds into this album (boy, more straight-laced country) and those same eyes were getting misty after the 3rd song, so...

Nanci Griffith, this singer I know nothing about, won me over easier than country stars on my radar like Steve Earle, Cowboy Junkies or Bonnie Raitt.

One of the very few albums from '86 that doesn't sound like it. (Don't get me wrong, I like my mid 80s plastic)

HL: "St Olav's Gate", "Banks of the Pontchartrain", "Goin' Gone"

Ok country-esque album. Country isn't really my thing, but this was short and relatively easy to get through. No talk of beer or tractors that I noticed. 3/5

Nice.

Now That's What I Call Generic and Boring Country Music.

Not my vibe.

I am at a 5. I am also in bliss.

Is it too late to make that Trio we got way earlier into a Quartet? I know Dolly, Emmylou & Linda don’t need a 4th, but if they ever wanted one, I’d immediately vouch for Nanci Griffith – what a beautiful, beautiful voice. Her vocals add so much emotional depth to what’s already an album full of incredibly well written songs. I know I’m a sucker for country, and this album pretty much hits on every country trope I like, but even if I could remove my biases, I just think there’s something beautiful to the whole thing here.

When I think of country music, I continue to curse the name of Toby Keith and all the other motherfuckers who took this style of country far away and made it into sucking off the troops, drinking beer, sexualizing girls in bikinis, and a bunch of other platitudinal bullshit that doesn’t really represent what country was always made to capture. It’s this type of sound, and these types of stories. It’s the slice of life Americana with good storytelling that calls back to younger days full of starry-eyed hope and wonder. It’s exactly what this album captures so well, and so beautifully.

It certainly helps that there’s a real variety to these tracks – this goes all over the place tonally and even geographically in the lyrics, but it stays pretty grounded and anchored by the core instrumentation of the acoustic guitar, the steel guitar, the fiddle, and the really light percussion. No two tracks feel quite the same, especially if you actually bother to read the lyrics. Her voice just glides on top of everything else though, the little missing puzzle piece that makes these songs totally pop. Even when the choruses get a little repetitive, her voice is just so damn good that it’s easy to get lost in it without a care.

I could keep going, but I just really, really, really enjoyed this. I know there’s a disposition against modern country, and it’s well deserved, but this is the type of album that makes me pray that this style can come back into the forefront someday. Intelligent writing, great storytelling, simple soundscapes, and great vocals. That’s all it takes, and while it’s easier said than done, I really think we can get there if people just put in the damn effort, just like Nanci Griffith did here. Just a stellar 5.

I've never really been a country music guy, but every so often an artist allows me to appreciate the genre. This was great; I enjoyed both the songwriting and the delivery. Nanci Griffith's voice suits the material perfectly. I can see a direct through-line from here to another country artist I enjoy; Waxahatchee

Schönes Country Album mit guter Musik, robuster Frauenstimme, guter Laune und dem Gefühl eines Bud’s wie im Western-Saloon. So ein bisschen Bud-Gefühl strahlt auch das Album aus. Man kann es trinken, aber bloß nicht zu viel.

Some of this was not unpleasant but I’m just not into the country sound.