Nanci Griffith May 3, 2012

It’s funny what happens with songs. Funny that Griffith’s personal “hell no” moment – delivered here in a frenzy that somehow simultaneously recalls Buddy Holly, Pete Seeger, and The Ramones – can produce a gladdening shock of recognition in audience members who had bought tickets to hear contemplative Griffith gems like “Love at the Five and Dime” and “Trouble in the Fields,” or who came to hear her signature versions of Kate Wolf’s “Across the Great Divide” or Julie Gold’s “From a Distance.” “Hell No (I’m Not Alright”) is two minutes and 22 seconds of evangelical brokenness: “I’m not okay, and neither are you and neither are we,” and it applies to people and businesses and governments, and it’s high time somebody shouted it to the rafters.