The Kennedys will pay tribute to Nanci Griffith online, Aug. 15.
Pete and Maura Kennedy, who have been presenting weekly live streams on Facebook throughout the pandemic, will devote their 2 p.m. Aug. 15 show to the music of Nanci Griffith, who died Aug. 13 at the age of 68. It can be seen at KennedysMusic.com or YouTube.com/TheKennedys.
The Kennedys met in 1992, when Pete was a member of Griffith’s band. Maura soon joined the band, too, and they continued to be associated with Griffith for years. In 2014, they released an album, Dance a Little Closer: The Kennedys Sing the Songs of Nanci Griffith; that same year, I saw them do a great Griffith tribute concert at the Outpost in the Burbs in Montclair.
Maura Kennedy posted on Facebook, today, “The process of our grieving over the loss of our soulmate Nanci Griffith has included moments of joy that we knew her so well and for so long. The mutually-endured rigors of international travel, the daily pageant of travel to new places, and especially the transcendent moments when she sang us, and her audience, to that light beyond the woods; those are the memories that bring smiles to our faces.”
She wrote that the live stream will be an opportunity to “celebrate those songs, and the times we spent with Nanci on the long road, with an hour of music and stories, an informal memorial gathering. It will be a casual in-the-moment mix, and we encourage our viewers to take part with requests and comments, just as if we were all gathered in a special place to honor her memory.”
Here is a video of Griffith singing the late John Prine’s “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness” with Pete and Maura Kennedy and percussionist Pat McInerney at the 2012 Cambridge Folk Festival in England:
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
1 comment
Wonderful tribute. My wife and I saw Nanci at TX Student Union way back in about “84 and enjoyed her work every since. What a treat to hear her songs again from both of you.