Grifffin House is blessed with movie star good looks, not as a pretty boy though, but rugged, stoic. He would be believable playing a scene against Sean Penn. In the April issue of Esquire, there was that totally cool layout in which he was featured with four other artists: Dierks Bentley, Bob Schneider, Ben Kweller, and Charlie Mars. Good company, and they all were asked to pen a song with the line "Somewhere In Mississippi." The tunes they wrote couldn't have been more different from one another. The exercise was in preparation for the shoot, which took place at the Crossroads - you know, where Robert Johnson was said to have made his deal with the devil. When Denise and I were staying at the Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale this past February, we were told that there was no way to know at which crossroads that actually happened, that the railroad tracks cross Highway 61 in four or five places. Not to quibble, though. The Delta is rich with ghosts and their hushed voices.
We met up with Griffin at the Cherokee Creek Music Festival last month, and I was struck by his serenity and his voice, which to my ear is reminiscent of Tim Hardin, as his high notes hang gently in the air. His new one, The Learner comes out today. You can stream it by clicking here. And if you are in Nashville this Friday, you can see Griffin House up close and personal at the West End Borders Books & Music.
Here's one of the songs from the new CD, filmed aboard the Music Fog bus, it's "River City Lights." If you like this one, be sure to circle back and watch our version of "Rule the World," too!
- Jessie Scott
