POP REVIEW : Consistent Loveliness of Voice, Material Unify Griffith’s Show

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO —  There really is no place to put Nanci Griffith, except maybe on the A list of singer-songwriters.

The Texas-bred pop-folk-country performer’s show on Tuesday at the Coach House ranged from stately anthems extolling peace and brotherhood (or decrying lack of same), to folk-tinged reveries about past times lost or recaptured, to a fun-loving hillbilly stomp through the normally somber Rolling Stones number “No Expectations.”

It was fairly pointless to look for a unifying strand, unless one was willing to consider the consistent loveliness of Griffith’s voice and material as a common denominator.

Even a show that jumps across styles can have unity and a sense of organized flow. Griffith’s show, however, was sometimes needlessly choppy, especially in the early going when ballads jarred against up-tempo tunes. Her six-member Blue Moon Orchestra was distracting at times, crowding her voice with a dense, layered, bottom-heavy sound.

But eventually, Griffith hit a sustained reflective mood in songs that featured simplicity and clarity in the playing and linkage in her themes. The long, satisfying, eight-song sequence began with a simple, lilting country lament, “I Wish It Would Rain,” and went on to explore how emotional ties are loosened, cut, or, with struggle, preserved.

The near-capacity house gave Griffith the sort of adoring reception that high-quality cult artists whose songs deeply touch people can take as partial compensation for not being household names.

Griffith appears tonight and Saturday at the Variety.