Altre voci, altre stanze

Il titolo è preso in prestito da uno dei più famosi libri di narrativa americana del ventesimo secolo, romanzo d'esordio di Truman Capote, anche se in questo caso le altre stanze potrebbero essere considerate le canzoni stesse, ognuna ad ospitare una o più voci, altre rispetto a quelle della titolare del disco. La cantante si chiama Nanci Griffith, ed è una delle voci più belle della musica americana, della quale il disco stesso (insieme al successivo Other voices too) rappresenta una sorta di antologia personale, declinata attraverso una serie di collaborazioni di alto spessore, da Tom Russell a Guy Clark, da Emmylou Harris a John Prine, da Bob Dylan ad Arlo Guthrie. Ed è proprio con quest'ultimo che la Griffith tocca, a mio parere, una delle vette del disco, attraverso la rilettura di una delle più famose canzoni di Townes Van Zandt, Tecumseh Valley.

TECUMSEH VALLEY (Townes Van Zandt)
The name she gave was Caroline
Daughter of a miner
Her ways were free
It seemed to me
That sunshine walked beside her

She came from Spencer
Across the hill
She said her pa had sent her
cause the coal was low
And soon the snow
Would turn the skies to winter

She said she'd come
To look for work
She was not seeking favors
And for a dime a day
And a place to stay
Shed turn those hands to labor

But the times were hard, lord,
The jobs were few
All through Tecumseh Valley
But she asked around
And a job she found
Tending bar at Gypsy Sally's

She saved enough to get back home
When spring replaced the winter
But her dreams were denied
Her pa had died
The word come down from Spencer

So she turned to whorin' out on the streets
With all the lust inside her
And it was many a man
Returned again
To lay himself beside her

They found her down beneath the stairs
That led to Gypsy Sally's
In her hand when she died
Was a note that cried
Fare thee well... Tecumseh Valley

The name she gave was Caroline
Daughter of a miner
Her ways were free
It seemed to me
That sunshine walked beside her