Consumer Guide Album

Nanci Griffith: The Last of the True Believers [Philo, 1986]
Among the signifiers jammed into the back-cover portrait are an acoustic guitar and a Larry McMurtry novel--not just a folkie, a literary folkie, from Texas, get it? Yes, we see. We see auburn hair in a French roll, white shawl thrown casually over antique flower-print dress, eyes demurely downcast. A mite precious, all told, with songs to match. Bet she reads Bobbie Ann Mason, too, but there's just no prose in her. What's amazing is that she almost gets away with it. On "Lookin' for the Time (Workin' Girl)," about a prostitute who can't afford a heart of gold, she does get away with it. I think it's the melody. B−