6-28-05, 10:12 am

Bruce Springsteen Devils & Dust Columbia/Sony 2005

Nanci Griffith Hearts in Mind New Door Records 2005



Two artists rarely seen as part of the same music scene released new compact disc albums early this year. Their highly personal and deeply political music bonds them in my mind. Both artists were born a little over 50 years ago, Nanci Griffith in Texas and Bruce Springsteen in New Jersey.

Both write their own songs and collaborate with some of the best musicians available. Bruce’s rock background is not that dissimilar to Nanci’s country/folk genre. A few years ago, Griffith toured the states with the Crickets, the group that backed up Buddy Holly. It was the closest she came to rock and roll; something she calls 'folkabilly.'

Of course, there was a major difference in publicity greeted by the release of each CD. For Bruce there was the normal high fanfare and hype. His record deal with Columbia/Sony is a lot different from Griffith’s new record company, New Door Records. And, of course, Bruce is a megastar and Nanci is not.

Also, the Springsteen Devils & Dust CD has embarked on a new technology, i.e., the disc itself has the CD on one side and a DVD performance on the other. Other artists, such as Neil Young, have provided a DVD disc in addition to the regular CD. Bruce, while often projecting himself as a laid-back performer and producer, at the same time, likes to be in the frontline of new technology.

In Hearts in Mind and Devils & Dust, Griffith and Springsteen explore the everyday activities of the people they encounter. They draw very clear pictures of their musical characters. Both artists associate with peace and social justice struggles. Whether their paths have actually crossed is not as important as recognizing their mutual opposition to war, poverty and injustice. They represent a growing number of songwriters and performers who are on the side of everyday people. Both are Grammy-winning artists.

Peace/Vietnam Focus by Griffith
Nanci Griffith’s new album has as its first song 'A Simple Life.' It is an appeal to have a life 'Like my mother' with 'one true love for my older years.' Then she makes her appeal for peace: 'I don’t want your wars to take my children.' She co-wrote the song with Elizabeth Cook. This song, as the rest of the album, is softly sung, but with searing intent.

Her first album in a few years, she shifts her attention to Vietnam. One original song involves her activism with the Vietnam Veterans Against War’s Campaign for a Landmine Free World. The song she wrote is called 'Heart of Indochine,' written while visiting Vietnam. The song is replete with appeals for peace. She sings of the horror of French and US imperialism in Vietnam.

The chorus is: 'Hoa binh…hoa binh, [‘peace’ in Vietnamese] Peace in the Heart of Indochine.' She sings of a friend: 'I am in a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City/ My friend Bobby Muller is sitting with me/ This traffic is maddening/ In his wheelchair he’s napping/ I wonder at times, does he walk in his dreams.'

She writes through the eyes of returning Vietnam veterans. Griffith was married to a Vietnam vet with whom she remains friends and a musical colleague.

Her other song, 'Old Hanoi,' invokes the Graham Greene, Quiet American theme.

In another powerful antiwar appeal, 'Big Blue Ball of War,' Nanci Griffith writes and sings about the First World War’s devastation. She laments, 'Almost a century, the blood has flowed/ We’ve killed our men of peace around this ball/ And, refuse to hear their ghosts.'

In 'Mountains of Sorrow' guest writer Julie Gold makes her contribution. She writes in the CD booklet: 'Nanci Griffith phoned to ask me to play a fund raiser in Boston….for the Vietnam Veterans of America’s Campaign for a Landmine Free World.' Gold wrote this song after that appearance and it focuses on the World Trade Center disaster. Another friend of Griffith, Clive Gregson, contributed, 'I Love this Town,' a story about a big city experience from a small town guy.

On a personal level, she writes a song to her father who was musical colleague of Hoagie Carmichael. The song is entitled, 'Beautiful.' There is a photo of Griffith’s mother and her father in the booklet. The booklet accompanying the CD has all the lyrics.

For fans of Sylvia Plath there is a song, this one written by Le Ann Etheridge, called, 'Back When Ted Loved Sylvia.' This is an exceptional song and presentation.

Extensive Career Achievements

After a successful career in the 1980s, Griffith again came to prominence in her 1993 'Other Voices, Other Rooms,' which won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Performance. The album included Bob Dylan’s 'Boots of Spanish Leather,' a song that Dylan, the previous year, requested she perform at his historic Madison Square Garden 30th anniversary concert. She had a personal setback when she was treated for breast cancer in summer 1996, which caused her to leave a tour with The Chieftens. In the following year she was treated for thyroid cancer.

Despite these physical setbacks, she joined the international effort to stop the spread of land mines. In January 2000, she traveled to Vietnam and Cambodia with the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF), retracing the steps of her ex-husband and still friend Eric Taylor, a veteran of that war.

The new millennium also brought three new retrospectives, including 2002’s double CD, The Complete MCA Studio Recordings, which marked the U.S. debut of 'Stand Your Ground,' an impassioned antiwar statement she recorded during Gulf war-era sessions a dozen years earlier for Late Night Grande Hotel. Nanci represents that quiet strength that will move mountains and bring peace and justice.

Top of His Game The new Springsteen album shows him at the top of his creative game. There is no E-Street Band on this CD. This is largely a solo acoustic event with some carefully selected guitar and vocal backup. Even his wife, Patti Scialfa is backup only on a couple of songs. The CD booklet contains all the lyrics, a good idea, since Bruce is uneven in the enunciation of lyrics to some of the songs.

This CD starts with an overpowering song, the title song, 'Devils & Dust.' In Devils & Dust, Springsteen takes you into the heart and mind of a soldier living in fear and doing his job. He says he has his 'finger on the trigger/but I don’t know who to trust.' He returns to the telling phrase; seemingly an explanation to the post-traumatic stress crisis that so many veterans are experiencing. 'I’m just trying to survive/ What if what you do to survive/ Kills the things you love/ fear’s a powerful thing,' to cause the motivation to survive and return home, in one piece, to families. This song recalls the '4th of July' album, which was Bruce’s anti-Vietnam War statement. And, in fact some radio stations are playing them back to back.

Reviewers are comparing this album to Nebraska and Tom Joad since both bring the lives of working-class people into the forefront. It is a good comparison and the trilogy would make a fine gift.

The CD provides a full range of human experiences. His song, 'Reno,' is about a guy, fresh from leaving his girlfriend, who seeks solace with a very accommodating prostitute. The graphic words put the parental advisory words on the CD cover. Bruce puts it all up front.

On 'All I’m Thinking About' and 'Maria’s Bed' Springsteen adopts another voice to deliver his verse. On 'Long Time Comin’' Bruce develops a song with an important one liner to his young listeners: 'Let your mistakes be your own.' He has a special song to 'Black Cowboys' with his own rendition.

The final song on the CD has a Mexican man thinking about his wife as he goes across into the US: 'Matamoros Banks.' This is powerful, year 2005 version, of the many folk songs written to highlight the imperialism that forces people to move to find jobs in countries that want their cheap labor.

With Springsteen playing guitar, percussion, tambourine and having a string background with, a group called the Nashville String Machine, the presentations on the CD are very musical, rhythmic and often gospel-like.

The DVD Completes the Success

On the DVD Springsteen takes us to a small farmhouse and sings with his acoustic guitar. He makes it a very personal experience, there is no backup. The cinematography is exceptional and the acoustics are perfect. He sings five songs including 'Devils & Dust,' 'Reno' and 'Matamoros.' This part of the performance is very reminiscent of Nebraska.

He introduces his songs by saying, 'You have to write from your inner core.' He continued that this is all that makes sense and if you don’t do that, you’ll fail. He proudly reminded his fans and viewers that back in the 1970s he was originally signed as an acoustic guitar player and often played with a 12 string. 'All the songs are about people whose souls are in danger or at risk. They all have something eating at them. Some come through successfully and some come to a tragic end,' he says.

The album was not greeted with full enthusiasm. But, it went to the top of charts, immediately. For example, on the negative side, The Village Voice reviewer roundly condemned it.

This is the kind of musical presentation that will grow on you, just like Nebraska, Tom Joad and almost all of Springsteen songs and their presentations do. The combination of the CD and DVD provides a complete Bruce experience not to be missed.