Women's voices: Promises of someday

Women’s lives have traditionally been centered around family, so the Voices often sing about it. For all you parents, I’ll give two examples today.

Singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith has a distinctive voice—you’d never take her as coming from anywhere but West Texas. You’d think that would put her a little outside my particular vernacular, and I’ll confess that (along with some of the other Voices you’ll hear this month) she does stretch my comfort zone.

I may have first seen her in a performance from Belfast with the Chieftains and Roger Daltrey (hey—the Chieftains are serious comfort-zone pushers), but associate her particularly with a concert I attended with friends at Wolf Trap outside D.C., after which I kind of sidled up to her. Think of it as a country dance, if you will, with me weaving in and out, ‘cause I’m a city girl.

Griffith’s got one of those little-girl voices—no matter how old she gets, she sounds like Edith Ann, sitting on a chair much to large for her. But that’s very deceptive; she may be vulnerable, but ain’t nothing but heart and backbone in that voice.

I’ve chosen Griffith’s cover of Malvina Reynold’s “Turn Around” as an example of family concerns. It’s a sentimental song that can easily slide into bathos; but Griffith keeps it moving. Just as you’d expect.

The second offering today is from Joni Mitchell. Mitchell was a huge influence on my youth—I’d never considered that singers could write their own songs, and hers were so distinctive. When she wrote about love affairs, you just knew it wasn’t some kind of theoretical exercise, just as “Woodstock” described her experience at the event. (Plus—that open tuning on the guitar bathed everything in exotic tones.)

As Reynolds wrote about seasons passing for a daughter, Mitchell focused on a boy growing up. She called the song, “The Circle Game”. It appears on her Ladies of the Canyon album, which I heard in my mind every time I drove through Laurel Canyon to get from my gigs at HBO and my home in Van Nuys.

For some reason, when I rode the merry-go-round in Golden Gate Park last month, “Circle Game” kept swirling through my head. Other people have covered it, but I just do not hear them, ever.

P.S. There are a lot of versions of “Woodstock”; Eva Cassidy's has become my favorite. Click here to listen and see if you agree.