Ruby's Torch

Nanci Griffith | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 14, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rounder / Umgd
• ASIN: B000IOM0QU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,696 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #57 in Music > Broadway & Vocalists > Cabaret

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Folk/country singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith shifts into chanteuse mode on this lovely outing. The sumptuous string-drenched arrangements are a change from Griffith's typically stark recordings featuring acoustic guitar and skeletal backing, but it's a natural progression in her nearly three-decade career. She has previously worked with an orchestra, on 1999's The Dust Bowl Symphony, but those results were mixed, due to the instruments' nearly overwhelming presence. On Ruby's Torch, the accompaniment is more organically integrated, and the sound supports Griffith instead of vice versa. No stranger to covers, Griffith taps Tom Waits for three of his older ballads, Jimmy Webb for one, and a few less famous tunesmiths: Donagh Long, Frank Christian, and Charles Goodrum, whose "Bluer than Blue" is a highlight. The durable "Late Night Grande Hotel," one of Griffith's most enduring originals, also makes an appearance in what could be its defining version. This is beautiful music for somber, but not depressing, moods, and closing-time last calls. The chestnut "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," best known in its classic rendition by Frank Sinatra, fits perfectly in this company, and the opening "When I Dream," written by Sandy Mason, sets the tone of regret and longing, both in life and love, that dominates the album. This lush, reflective work is a wonderful vehicle for Griffth's yearning, supple voice. It shows her to be as commanding a torch-song interpreter as a guitar-strumming roots veteran, and points the way for future projects in this vein. --Hal Horowitz

Product Description

Rounder Records is pleased to announce the release of Ruby's Torch, a new album by Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and "folkabilly" artist Nanci Griffith. Ruby's Torch is a collection of intimate torch songs, some penned by Griffith, others by some of her musical heroes. "Recording an entire record of torch songs has been a dream come true for me," says Griffith, "and something my listeners have been asking me to do for many years."

Rather than relying on tried-and-true torch standards, she pays homage to an eclectic array of influences. "When I Dream" has been performed by Crystal Gayle and Willie Nelson, and represents country balladry at its most powerful. Griffith also tips her hat to Jimmy Webb, whose masterful songwriting is at its peak in the touching "If These Walls Could Speak." Griffith offers lush interpretations of three Tom Waits numbers: "Grapefruit Moon," "Ruby's Arms," and "Please Call Me, Baby."

Also included is "Bluer Than Blue," the bittersweet ballad penned by Charles Goodrum and popularized in the late '70s by one of the masters of mellow country-pop, Michael Johnson. Griffith also offers her take on the bluesy, winsome "Drops From the Faucet," written by former Blue Moon Orchestra Guitarist Frank Christian, as well as the delicate yearning of "Never Be the Sun" by Irish baladeer Donal MacDonagh Long.

The one track with a genuine torch pedigree, "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" (popularized by the inimitable Frank Sinatra), fits in seamlessly, thanks to Griffith's ability to mesh her many inspirations and deliver them with her own charismatic style.

"The challenge in performing these songs is that you have to somehow remain true to the spirit of the song but infuse it with your own story," Griffith explains. "If you don't fill the song with your own emotions, then you really are just going through the motions."

Backing Griffith on this collection is the Blue Moon Orchestra, which has been with her since 1986. Over the past two decades these musicians have evolved with Griffith every step of the way. Which is what makes the reinvented versions of "Brave Companion of the Road" (from Griffith's 1989 album, Storm) and the title track to her 1991 album, Late Night Grand Hotel, so fascinating.

"Sometimes you find whole new personalities in songs when you perform them in a new setting," Griffith observes. "It's like looking at a landscape from different angles. You can really appreciate all the textures and features of the terrain if you approach it from different directions."

Griffith has been described as a singer-songwriter's singer-songwriter, but the accolade really rings true if you consider some of her biggest fans: Bob Dylan (who requested that Griffith sing "Boots of Spanish Leather" at his Madison Square Garden anniversary concert) as well as Emmylou Harris and Willie Nelson, who have performed Griffith's songs. And then there are the awards: five Grammy nominations (including a win for 1993's Other Voices, Other Rooms) and two more for her dazzling performances on albums by the Chieftains.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Torch Songs-Grown Men Will Turn To Blancmange, November 24, 2006

By 

prisrob "pris," (New England USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Ruby's Torch (Audio CD)

"These are gorgeous, string-rich arrangements, and Griffith's performance is compelling. Never the most polished chanteuse, she radiates earnestness, the once-chirrupy voice given a mellow timbre by the years." Paul Taylor

This CD for Nancy Griffith is the most eclectic grouping of wonderfully written and sung 'torch' songs( A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love)Wikipedia. She borrows from others and adds her own. The marvelous 'Blue Moon" orchestra provides the sound that shows these songs are beautifully written and the production restrained, with piano, acoustic guitar and, of course, strings which together makes this album 'one for the ages'. She laments lost love, night cabarets and waiting for 'the one to come along'.

Three of these songs are by Tom Waits, the cover song:

'Ruby's Arms'- this is such a rich song of longing

'Grapefruit Moon'- "one star shining,more than I can hide"-a song of inspiration.

'Please Call me Baby'- a song of break-ups and make-ups.

'Late Night Grande Hotel'-"All my life I've left my troubles by the door
'Cos leaving is all I've ever known before'- song of leaving and loving.

'In The Wee Small Hours'- Frnak Sinatra's song and sung with grace and style "When your lonely heart has learned its lesson. You'd be hers if only she would call."

"Drops From The Faucet'- A song of leaving=And... as I'm waitin' I wonder why and where...And what went wrong..But this song don't tell no lies..It was just a quick good-bye, yeah.

Jimmy Webb and Irish singer Donal Longh each have a song, and the best, the very best song,'In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning' is sung with the just the right tone and rhythm and sound. Frank Sinatra would be pleased. 'Late Night At Grande Hotel', Nanci's own song, sums up the feeling of wanting and need and good-bye.

Paul Taylor in his review gave me a laugh, but how true his remarks are; "Grown men will turn to blancmange at first hearing of Griffith's lushly-orchestrated version of the break-up ballad, Ruby's Arms. "

Highly, highly recommended. prisrob 11/24/06

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Magic from Nanci, November 18, 2006

By 

James Troiano (Stillwater, Maine United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ruby's Torch (Audio CD)

Nanci is a magical musical chamaleon. Each album is unique and personal. The latest, Ruby's Torch, gives us original interpretations of other's songs, including three Tom Waits songs and new performances of her own. Whenever Nanci performs someone else's music, it is no perfunctory cover. It means something personal and that special magic comes through. Her own magnificent Brave Companion of the Road shines most brightly as she captures the loneliness of life on the road. And then there is the jewel "Late Night Grand Hotel" which begins with the lines "Working on a Morning Flight to Anywhere but Here" Nanci captures the essence of desperation, loneliness, with the longing to escape to something better. This is a more personal and sparse version of the gem, which works perfectly. She includes a tribute to her mom "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," which was her mother's favorite song. The loneliness and longing of the song is captured so well by Nanci. The personal meaning to Nanci adds the poignancy of her delivery. I have had the album for one day and and it has not left my CD player. There is no one like Nanci when it comes to songs of loneliness and longing. Her personal and original interpretations give you inspiration and help you through the most difficlut times.

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The 'torch' fails to ignite, November 28, 2006

By 

Royboy (Bendigo) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ruby's Torch (Audio CD)

Nanci Grifftih's 'Ruby's Torch' seems a miconceived project. Nanci is not a natural torch singer, nor do most of these songs conform to conventional understandings of 'torch songs'. Her version of one of the outstanding songs of this genre, 'Wee Small Hours', is successful, but scarcely departs from the version recorded on 'Clock Without Hands'. Something similar could be said about 'Drops From the Faucet', and 'Brave Companion': indeed, the subdued and intimate version of the latter on 'Storms' is more compelling. The three Tom Waits songs are pleasant listening, but the originals convey much more authenticity of feeling.

I have all Nanci's albums and, while conceding that some have flaws, feel that all represent considerable achievement. The new album, despite being blessed with Nanci's distinctive sweet, evocative voice, is a disappointment