Little Love Affairs

by Nanci Griffith

Overview

Little Love Affairs, Nanci Griffith's second MCA Records album, and sixth album overall, was the crucial release in her attempt to achieve success as a Nashville-based country artist, and in that context it was a failure. But it was also an artistic success, containing 11 well-written and well-performed songs in the reflective style that the singer/songwriter had established previously. Griffith's first MCA album, Lone Star State of Mind, had been a moderate seller, reaching the Top 40 and spawning two country chart singles. MCA prefaced Little Love Affairs with perhaps its most overtly country song, "Never Mind," written by veteran songwriter Harlan Howard, and prominently featuring a pedal-steel guitar in its arrangement, but the single's failure to crack the country Top 40 suggested trouble, confirmed when the album peaked lower than Lone Star State of Mind. "Never Mind" gave a good indication of the album's theme, embodied in its title, of carefully examining the romantic lives of common people. Howard's lovers were itinerant laborers who came out of the Depression, and other songs also looked back at stories of romance past, such as Griffith's compositions "Love Wore a Halo (Back Before the War)," and "So Long Ago." The music, supplied by Griffith's backup band and New Grass Revival, was in her familiar country-folk style, and her vocals, with their ringing, aching tone, conveyed the songs' sense of longing and regret effectively. Country critics and radio programmers complained that, if anything, she was too country, her voice having an off-putting twang and nasality, but that was just an excuse for rejecting her literate lyrics and sophistication. At 33, she wasn't about to become some empty-headed Nashville bimbo willing to mouth romantic cliches, and for that she paid the price of being denied country stardom. Her fans breathed a sigh of relief. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	10/25/1990
Label:	Mca
UPC:	0076742210229

Tracks

1. Anyone Can Be Somebody's Fool
2. I Knew Love
3. Never Mind
4. Love Wore a Halo (Back Before the War)
5. So Long Ago
6. Gulf Coast Highway
7. Little Love Affairs
8. I Wish It Would Rain
9. Outbound Plane
10. I Would Change My Life
11. Sweet Dreams Will Come

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Nanci Griffith   Primary Artist,Vocals,Vocal Harmony,Guitar (Acoustic)
John Stewart   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals,Guitar (Electric)
Mac McAnally   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocal Harmony,Gut String Guitar,Vocals
Mark O'Connor   Guest Artist,Viola,Violin,Mandolin
John Catchings   Cello
Jon Goin   Guitar,Hi String Guitar,Guitar (Electric),Guitar (Classical)
Lloyd Green   Dobro,Piano
Sam Bush   Mandolin
Lucy Kaplansky   Vocal Harmony,Gut String Guitar
Rick Marotta   Drums
Danny Flowers   Slide Guitar,Gut String Guitar
Billy Joe Walker   Guitar (Acoustic)
Charlie Bundy   Vocal Harmony,Gut String Guitar
John Jarvis   Piano,Synthesizer
James Hooker   Piano,Synthesizer
Bela Fleck   Banjo
Pat Flynn   Guitar (Acoustic)
David Hungate   Bass (Electric)
Dan Flowers   Slide Guitar,Vocal Harmony
Roy M. "Junior" Husky   Bass (Upright)

Technical Credits

Robert Earl Keen   Composer
Nanci Griffith   Composer,Producer
Marty Williams   Engineer
Milan Bogdan   Digital Editing
Tom Russell   Composer
Daniel Flowers   Composer
Danny Flowers   Composer
Tim Kish   Engineer
Glenn Meadows   Mastering
Harlan Howard   Composer
Russ Martin   Engineer
John Stewart   Duet,Composer
Roger Brown   Composer
Jessie Noble   Project Coordinator
Bob Bullock   Overdub Engineer
Chuck Ainlay   Mixing,Engineer,Mastering
James Hooker   Composer
James H. Brown Jr.   Composer
Mac McAnally   Duet
Tony Brown   Producer
Mark J. Coddington   Engineer