Nanci Griffith, the Dust Bowl, and Mothers
Nanci Griffith was born in Seguin, Texas in 1954. As a child, Nanci was encouraged
to be a musician by her parents, both of whom were talented singers. Nanci began
performing professionally at age 14, and by the time she entered the University
of Texas in Austin, she was a seasoned veteran on stage. At that time, in the
1970s, Austin was at the epicenter of an explosion of folk-influenced country
and western music. Singers and songwriters such as Jerry Jeff Walker, Ramblin’
Jack Elliott, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Willie Nelson, and others lived in,
or passed through Austin regularly. These musicians influenced an entire generation
of young Texans, including Griffith, Lucinda Williams, and Lyle Lovett.
Many of Nanci Griffith’s songs are captivating stories about people, the
places they call home, and the challenges they face day to day. Her song “Trouble
in the Fields” addresses the hardships faced by farmers in the modern era,
while placing today’s farmers’ problems within the context of their
parents’ Dust Bowl experiences in the Great Depression. The parents, Griffith
sings, “had their hard times…fifty years ago/When they stood out in
these empty fields/ In dust as deep as snow.” Griffith’s “Ford
Econoline” tells the story of a woman driving west in a station wagon with
her five children to escape Salt Lake City and a gambling, rambling, and lying
husband. We learn that the woman has a “silver throated” voice that
she uses to pursue a career as a singer. At the end of the song, the woman’s
“kids are grown/ And that rambler knows/ You cannot cage your wife/ Along
the backroads of our nation/ She has become a living legend/ She drives a Coupe
Deville/ But her heart rides still/ In that Ford Econoline.”
1. Farmers on the Plains of Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, and Nebraska faced terrible hardships during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Long periods of drought followed by hot winds resulted in thousands of acres of soil being blown away. Weather patterns and careless methods of land use instigated very important changes in Plains communities. Look in the newspaper for articles about how people and/or communities in the West and around the world are effected by weather. Look also for articles about the ways humans in the West and elsewhere use natural resources such as soil, timber, oil, or fisheries. How would these uses be affected by a change in climate? How does weather play a role in your own life and in your own community?
2. The “silver throated” mother of five in Griffith’s song escapes a husband who had attempted to “cage” her. Through her own determination and hard work, the woman has become a success, while raising her children on her own terms. Look in the advertisements throughout the newspaper. How are women depicted? How about men? What are the similarities and differences in the ways that advertisers depict gender? You have been hired to create a newspaper concert advertisement for Griffith’s heroine. You should reflect her character and image as succinctly as possible in the ad.