Nanci Griffith

Trailer for the documentary For the Sake of the Song, which screened at SXSW 2010. For forty years, Houston s legendary folk and acoustic music venue, Anderson Fair Retail Restaurant, has fostered and nurtured some of the most important performers and songwriters in America, including Grammy Award-winning artists Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett, and Lucinda Williams. Lyle Lovett claims, Without Anderson Fair, I wouldn t have been driven to try to write songs the way I was. Recalling her early development as a songwriter, Nanci Griffith says, I wasn t yet that confident with my songwriting, and Anderson Fair gave me that confidence. For The Sake Of The Song: The Story of Anderson Fair is the compelling saga of one of Texas and America s unsung cultural treasures. This film explores the significant role Anderson Fair has played in preserving an American musical tradition and how a devoted family of artists, volunteers, and patrons transformed a politically subversive little coffee house and restaurant into a unique American music institution. Today, Anderson Fair is one of the oldest folk and acoustic music venues in continuous operation in the United States. What began as a little neighborhood restaurant where local musicians played for tips and free-thinkers gathered to talk about things that might get them arrested somewhere else quickly evolved into a songwriting sanctuary, cultivating a multitude of local and regional artists and attracting performers from all over the world. It was a hotbed of creativity, a place to write, a place to perform, a place to get your act solid, acknowledges former owner Franci Files Jarrard. Lucinda Williams recalls, It was a coveted gig if you could get an actual night there. It was a great place to showcase your original material. Anderson Fair has stubbornly bucked the odds and survived for four decades because of the dedication of a community of people with a common vision: nothing gets in the way of the music. It has alw