Nanci Griffith, RIP

Lis Sinatra

Folk, country and songwriting great Nanci Griffith has died at age 68 in her home in Nashville. “It was Nanci’s wish that no further formal statement or press release happen for a week following her passing,” her management Gold Mountain Entertainment said in a statement.

Born in 1953 in Seguin, Texas and raised in Austin where she became part of the fertile folk and country scene, Nanci released her debut album, There's a Light Beyond These Woods, in 1978. But it was her 1987 album, Lone Star State of Mind, where she really broke through. That featured "From a Distance," which would become a hit for Bette Midler in 1990. Nanci's album Other Voices, Other Rooms won the 1993 Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

Over the years, Nanci collaborated with everyone from Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, John Prine, and Suzy Bogguss, to Lyle Lovett, Don McLean, Jimmy Buffett, and Counting Crows' Adam Duritz.

“I feel blessed to have many memories of our times together along with most everything she ever recorded. I’m going to spend the day reveling in the articulate masterful legacy she’s left us,” Suzy Bogguss wrote on Instagram, while Darius Rucker wrote, "Today I am just sad man. I lost one of my idols. One of the reasons I am in Nashville. She blew my mind the first time I heard Marie and Omie. And singing with her was my favorite thing to do."

Austin City Limits, where she performed eight times over the years, wrote "Our hearts are heavy today hearing the news that Nanci Griffith has passed. She was a beautiful songwriter and a beacon in the Texas music scene for decades."

Rest in peace, Nanci. Read more tributes, and watch a few performances, below.