`From A Distance: The Very Best Of Nanci Griffith' Features `Lone Star State of Mind,' `I Knew Love,' Live `Love At The Five and Dime' and 19 More Favorites.

Entertainment Editors & Music/Retail Writers

LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--May 21, 2002

Nanci Griffith, the Queen of Folkabilly, is back on the road this summer following the late 2001 release of "Clock Without Hands," her first album of new songs in four years. Whether you call her music folk-country or country-folk, Griffith has carved her own niche to become one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters in music.

"From A Distance: The Very Best Of Nanci Griffith" (MCA Nashville/UME), released June 25, 2002, brings together 22 of her best-loved tracks, each digitally remastered, from her first five major label albums, spanning 1987 to 1991.

In 1986, her indie-released "Last Of The True Believers" was Grammy nominated and included "Love At The Five And Dime" (heard in a vocal/acoustic guitar live rendition on "From A Distance"). Kathy Mattea then covered the song for her "Walk The Way The Wind Blows" album and its popularity won a BMI award for songwriter Griffith. Major labels came courting, and Griffith joined MCA.

Her big-time debut, 1987's "Lone Star State Of Mind," introduced the Julie Gold-penned "From A Distance," a favorite of space shuttle astronauts, a major hit for Bette Midler five years later, and #1 in the U.K. and Ireland for Griffith, who has been a major star there ever since. The album also scored her first country Top 40 with the title track. In addition, "From A Distance" features the album's "Trouble In The Fields," "There's A Light Beyond These Woods (Mary Margaret)," "Cold Hearts/Closed Minds" and "Ford Econoline."

The live "One Fair Summer Evening" in 1988, recorded in Houston, showcased the Texan's performances of "Once In A Very Blue Moon," "Love At The Five And Dime," "Looking For The Time (Workin' Girl)" and "The Wing And The Wheel." Later that year, "Little Love Affairs" featured the country Top 40 "I Knew Love" and another song which became a big hit for someone else, "Outbound Plane," for Suzy Bogguss. That album's "Anyone Can Be Somebody's Fool," "I Wish It Would Rain" and "Gulf Coast Highway" (with Mac McAnally) also grace "From A Distance."

1989's "Storms" (with "It's A Hard Life Wherever You Go," "I Don't Want To Talk About Love," "Drive-In Movies And Dashboard Lights" and "If Wishes Were Changes") and 1991's "Late Night Grande Hotel" (with "It's Just Another Morning Here," "Hometown Streets" and the title track) followed.

So too have other albums on other labels, including with her Blue Moon Orchestra, as well as noteworthy collaborations with The Chieftains. Through it all, Nanci Griffith has remained one of America's musical treasures.