Consisting of 48 pieces over some 80 pages, The Oddest Sea contains materials from Griffith’s many years of writing and music making. The book also features a close-up detail of one of his paintings on the cover and a smattering of Griffith’s photographs among its pages.
Griffith’s often conversational style of prose works well with his music, but the words are also capable of holding their own on the printed page, giving credence to Farris Smith’s assertion that Will Griffith is “A real guy writing about real people in the real world. A true wordsmith and storyteller.”
Advance kind words for THE ODDEST SEA:
This collection of lyrics by Will Griffin is an atlas to your own inner world, an invitation to say the unsayable, to know the unknowable, to find yourself in the crucible wreckage of the people and the place that shaped you, molded you, sent you hurtling through time and space without agency or consent. These songs, by a son of the Mississippi Delta, are a map back home.
— Wright Thompson, author of The Barn
Will Griffith’s words hold the power of a gospel hymn, rising and falling, and carrying you on the wind of a great spiritual lyricism. He joins you in your woes, holds you in your grief, and rides shotgun in your joy. A real guy writing about real people in the real world. A true wordsmith and storyteller.
— Michael Farris Smith, author of Lay Your Armor Down and Desperation Road
At the center of Griffith’s The Oddest Sea lies a highway snaking through stubble fields, night ghosts whispering from scrub pines, and the arrhythmic boot steps of the weary romantic.
— Max Hipp, author of What Doesn’t Kill You Opens Your Heart
Will Griffith writes from the hole in his heart. There’s a a yearning, a wanting, and beauty in every line (he sings). He’s lived his songs and you can hear the longing in your head and his heart. We want him to find what he’s looking for, or do we? Because if he does we’ll then miss that lonesome feeling he so wonderfully expresses. But when he does find it, look out love!
— Amos Harvey, brewmaster and tour manager
Home for Will Griffith is the Magnolia State. Born and “braised” (as he says) near the banks of the Mississippi River, these days he hangs his hat farther east in the Hill Country college town/literary Mecca of Oxford, where he is popular for his music and his proficiency as a drink slinger. Years in the service industry have honed his ear for the cadence of the lonely and the brokenhearted who hang out on the opposite side of the bar. He has his own tales of woe to tell as well, all steeped in classic country music and punk rock, a killer combination in the hands of Griffith’s band, The Great Dying (Dial Back Sound).
