Intersection

Nanci Griffith's Intersection reflects the personal and political turmoil around her as she attempts to make sense of a world where even an established musician like herself has to adjust to a new music business order. Recorded at her home studio in Nashville with coproducers Pete and Maura Kennedy and Pat McInerney, Intersection features the rocked-up "Hell No (I'm Not Alright)" in both studio and live versions. Its anthemic quality is quite a departure from her usual level of measured introspection. It's a fun piece, but she still finds most of her shelter in the words of Blaze Foley's classic "If I Could Only Fly" and in the grey fields of "Bethlehem Steel," recounting how a 2003 mill shutdown left a hole in that Pennsylvania community. She brings her maturity to a reinvention of "Just Another Morning Here," a track more than 20 years old. "Bad Seed" takes an unflinching look at her own difficult upbringing. There's an old-time rock 'n' roll bounce in its acoustic performance, reminiscent in part of Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open My Door."