A sassy schoolmistress who tugs at the heartstrings

Despite her disciplined school mistress demeanour (or indeed, perhaps because of it), there's always been something slightly sassy about Nanci Griffith. As one of country/folk's most unassuming but sophisticated performers, she is honour-bound not to transgress any written or unwritten rules, but there remains a sparkle about her that is missing from, say, the more brazen and obvious Shania Twain.

It's all down to her sense of inclusiveness, of course, an honesty of personality and material that is impossible to deny and far too easy to succumb to. While the helium speaking voice is initially amusing, her singing voice reaches beyond the smirk to an area where grounded and acceptable sentimentality lies. Her between-song discourses contain something far removed from the usual cliched patter that dominates archetypal stage performances by country singers, while her charm is underlaid with an easy, artful appreciation of audience empathy.

She sings songs from an admirable back catalogue: Trouble In The Fields, It's A Hard Life Wherever You Go, Outbound Plane, Ford Econoline, Travellin' Through This Part Of You, Across The Great Divide, Not My Way Home. It's hard to be moved by pretty much anything these days, such is the vapid nature of the majority of everything you hear, but Nanci Griffith manages just that with songs that nag at the mind and tug at the heartstrings. Lovely. Really lovely.