There's a Light Beyond These Woods is singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith's debut album. It was recorded live to two-track over four days, December 9 to 11, 1977 and January 3, 1978, in Austin, Texas. Griffith wrote most of its songs, as she would on almost all of her subsequent albums. The album cover features a photograph of Griffith taken in the autumn of 1978, tinted by Frank Golden, as well as lettering by Eric Taylor. The cover was designed by Pat Alger and Griffith's father, Marlin Griffith.