The Last of the True Believers

The Last of the True Believers is singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith's fourth album, and her last with the folk music-oriented Philo Records. The acclaim accorded her from her previous Once in a Very Blue Moon and the current album would gain her a contract with a major recording company after this album. Here, Griffith continues her turn toward a more country-oriented work than her first two albums, which were primarily folk-sounding. It also includes two songs which would later be hits for Kathy Mattea: "Love at the Five and Dime" from her 1986 album Walk the Way the Wind Blows, and "Goin' Gone", Mattea's first Number One, from 1987's Untasted Honey.

Cover

The photograph on the album cover contains several references to the album's songs. A couple can be seen dancing behind Griffith, standing in front of a Woolworth's store as described in "Love at the Five and Dime." The male dancer is Lyle Lovett who also appears on the album as a vocalist. The man standing at far left is John T. Davis, at the time a music writer for the Austin American-Statesman.

As with other Nanci Griffith albums she is pictured holding books by and/or about southern writers. On the front cover she is holding a copy of The Kindness of Strangers: The Life of Tennessee Williams by Donald Spoto. On the album's back cover she is clutching Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. ^[2]

Track listing

All tracks composed by Nanci Griffith; except where indicated

1. "Last of the True Believers" - 2:47
2. "Love at the Five and Dime" - 4:33
3. "St. Olav's Gate" (Tom Russell) - 3:03
4. "More Than a Whisper" (Griffith, Bobby Nelson) - 3:42
5. "Banks of the Pontchartrain" - 3:39
6. "Lookin' for the Time (Workin' Girl)"- 2:43
7. "Goin' Gone" (Pat Alger, Bill Dale, Fred Koller) - 4:19
8. "One of These Days" - 2:54
9. "Love's Found a Shoulder" - 2:19
10. "Fly by Night" - 2:36
11. "The Wing and the Wheel" - 2:41

Notes and sources