This is Nanci's own text from the CD booklet:
Other voices/Other rooms is the title of Truman Capote's first novel published in 1948. It marked a time of new voices in literature and coincided with a rebirth of interest in Folk Music with the added twist of focus on the singer/songwriter. Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, The Almanac Singers, Alan Lomax, The Weavers, The Carter Family, and Odetta among others were true pioneers in passing on the passion of the singer/songwriter to the next generation. Folk Music has had a couple of revivals since that first wave they generated and the spotlight has remained on the brilliance of the voice of the songwriter who captures lyrically and musically a panoramic view of the social climate and the writer's sense of place for the next of us to hear and sing in the voice of our own time.
While completing work on my last record, Late Night Grande Hotel, my producer of that project, Rod Argent, commented that it was such an honor to have Phil Everly sing harmony on that album as The Everly Brothers were not just a musical duo to him but a time in his life. He said their music was the reason he became a songwriter and formed the band, The Zombies and without The Everlys his youth would not have had a musical score... Time of the season would never have been written and he wouldn't have a clue as to the true definition of vocal harmony. His comments reminded me of the importance in influence other songwriters have made in both inspiring and shaping me into the songwriter I have become. Rod planted the seed of an idea in my mind for this project which has become a full grown family tree of the songs, voices, and writers whose music so firmly gave me roots and the strength to branch out on my own as a writer. On New Year's evening of 1992, Emmylou Harris and I spoke of the beauty and clarity of the late Kate Wolf's music. We spoke of both the sadness in her passing and the lack of new voices singing Kate's songs. Emmy said songs need new voices to sing them in places they've never been sung in order to stay alive. So, it was with Emmy's words of wisdom and her encouragement that the seed Rod Argent planted was nourished and grew into this project.
As a young child in Austin, Texas in the early 1960's folk music became my first love. Carolyn Hester's voice through my transistor radio gave me wings to fly and a place to be and while radio was then dominated by Rock and Roll it still had and innocence then which allowed for a child in Austin, Texas to hear Carolyn Hester back to back with The Everly Brothers and Nat King Cole followed by a Weavers song. Music didn't need a neat category to fit into then in order to be heard. Without that open ear of radio then I would never have found my first love in folk music. It's been my intention in this project to pass on these songs and voices to the next of us in search of their first love and to preserve as best I could the phrasing and individuality of all the songwriters in this collection. I harbor great hopes that those who hear these songs for the first time, and discover a genre of music they'd like to hear more of, will go out to the record store and search through the bins to find the original works of these writers and artists.
There are so many writers who's songs I wanted to record for this album that I am at a loss as to how I can express my true gratitude for their work. My producer, Jim Rooney, was most patient with me and instrumental in helping me choose the songs I could interpret best from my incredibly long list. Missing are songs by John Stewart, Loretta Lynn, Don Everly, Phil Everly, Paul Seibel, Mary McCaslin, Joni Mitchell, Ian Tyson, Phil Ochs, Harlan Howard, Rosalie Sorells, Michael Murphy, Bill Staines, Paul Kennerly, Leonard Cohen, Dave Van Ronk, Judy Collins, Richard Leigh, Butch Hancock, Robert Earl Keen Jr., Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Paul Simon, Jackson Browne, Guy Clark, Suzanna Clark, Bob McDill, Richard Dobson, Pete Seeger, Richard Farina, Joe Ely, Emmylou Harris, John Gorka, and so many more.... perhaps someday...
Kind thanks to all these generations of singers, players, and songwriters who made space in their busy schedules to gather together for this project and lend their voices to these songs. Carolyn Hester said it best in that she felt she'd arrived with Arlo Guthrie into a very special private folk festival. It was an incredible honor to be in the company of my heros of such enormous talent whose mutual love of this music gave this project heart and wings to fly. And to all the artists Jim Rooney and I felt belonged on this project and who tried their best to get here but schedules simply would not permit, Billy Bragg, Norman and Nancy Blake, Patty Larkin, Christine Lavin, Julie Gold, and Dolores Keane to name a few... thanks for trying, we missed you and thought of your voices and perhaps someday... Last but not least, to Iris Dement and Lee Satterfield who so remind me of my own self as a young songwriter out driving myself around America to play music.
This album is for my sister, Marlene... through the wall between our bedrooms and our ages came the voice of Bob Dylan in 1963. And to my God children, Aaron Hefferman and Julia Carlson so that they might get to hear some folk music...
In memory of Kate Wolf, Malvina Reynolds, and Bob Claypool... please save me and Emmy a seat at the bar...
This recording project has been the dream of a lifetime come true for be as both an artist and a songwriter. No other producer could have lent the knowledge and the compassion to this music with the patience and dedication Jim Rooney has put into this body of work. Nor do I feel we could've found two engineers, Mark Miller in Nashville, and Brian Masterson in Dublin, who had better ears for acoustic instruments and instinctively knew that the secret to capturing folk music, if indeed it can be captured, is to let it roll and keep your hands off the wheel. -Nanci Griffith
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