Once Nanci Griffith moved away from "folkabilly" in favor of an uptown middle-of-the-road sound, her albums often took on a self-important archness that detoured their journey from her heart to ours. The fact that she titled this one after a Carson McCullers novel telegraphs bad omens until you remember that many of her best, early records also honored her literary heroes. Clock Without Hands, her first album of mostly original material since 1997, turns out to be an elegant and gratifying surprise。