Patty Griffin

[beautifulmess]

I went to the library the other day and picked up Patty Griffin's 1,000 Kisses and I absolutely love it. It's full of beautiful melodies, heartbreaking lyrics, and Griffin's amazing voice. I was curious if anyone else was a fan of her work or had heard any of her other albums.  

[bethany]

Chah. I remember that fateful day when my friend Rachel said to me, "Bethany,  you need to listen to Patty Griffin. You will love her."  I made a mental note. Fast forward, 3 months later. The year: 2000. The place: Horn Creek, Colorado, inside Sarah's van. I was flipping through her cd collection and came upon "Living With Ghosts" by Patty Griffin. I exclaimed aloud, as I had not run across the cd in any store prior to this point. I popped the cd in the player and the lovely sounds of Patty's guitar filled the stinky van. I was in love. I "borrowed" the cd and spent most of the rest of the week lying outside on the mountainside listening to LWG pounding through my headphones into my eager ears.

4 years, 5 albums and 4 bootlegs later, I still adore Patty and her music. In fact, I am FINAfreakingLLY going to get to see her live and in concert May 21, in Lawrence, KS. And there shall be dancing and joy and happiness.


(I'm in a weird mood. Don't mind me. But this is all true.)

[Josh]

Patti Smith? Yes. Patty Griffin? Hmmm... never heard her, I don't think. But I'll make a point to do so.

[enemy anemone]

I've heard of her name because she's collaborated with Buddy and Julie Miller (backup vocals on "I Still Cry")  but I haven't heard any of her songs. I'll keep my eyes and ears open.

[bethany]

*jaw drops* Seriously? Man, I would've been touting her much earlier if I'd known there was such a lack of Pattyness on this phorum.

Don't walk, RUN to the nearest store/legal downloading service and get "Living With Ghosts" and "1000 Kisses"  

[oneafroboy]

Any chance of giving us a taste at the Pub?

[bethany]

Yeah, I could. I just never get around to downloading an FTP client. Anyone know of a good free one for Macs?

[Escuchame]

Mmmh.

I was talking to Damien Rice's management, who happens to manage Patty Griffin as well, and they asked me if I'd be interested in interviewing/writing a story on her.

I know nothing about her, though, so I still don't know if I should pursue this.  Something tells me no, because doing so would require me to immerse myself into her stuff, which I don't have time for right now.

But it does pique my interest.

[bethany]

Did any of you ever listen to Patty? What'd you think?

[enemy anemone]

I downloaded the Patty songs on the pub and a couple others. so far I like Sorry and Sad and Every Little Bit. I'm going to check at the library if they have any of her cds, or if not, then the next time I'm at the bookstore I'll check.  

[bethany]

So. Last night I fulfilled a goal that I've been striving towards for the past FOUR years.

I saw Patty in concert.

She was playing at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, KS, and since it's the first time she's been within 8 hours drive of me, I leapt at the chance to go. I didn't get to crawl into my bed and sleep until 4 am this morning, but it was totally worth it. Patty is an incredible musician, and her show was amazing. It's hard to reconcile that huge voice coming out of her tiny body. She was obviously having fun, and the audience was very appreciative. Her performance of "Mil Besos" gained a standing ovation from the crowd in the middle of the concert, it was that good. Very, very good. Probably the second best concert experience of my life (with the first being Sigur Ros at the same venue, actually).

She's touring later this summer/fall with Emmy Lou Harris and Gillian Welch. If they come ANYWHERE near you, I beseech you, GO. You won't be sorry.

[Josh]

She's touring later this summer/fall with Emmy Lou Harris and Gillian Welch. If they come ANYWHERE near you, I beseech you, GO. You won't be sorry.

Don't worry about me... I wouldn't miss Emmylou for anything.

[Josh]

You people are rubbing off on me.

Today I picked up a copy of Living with Ghosts.

My word... what a voice. Griffin's singing is a revelation. Outside of OtR's Karin Bergquist and Emmylou Harris, I can't think of any other woman who could outsing this gal.

The arrangements are sparse-- just Griffin and her acoustic guitar. This approach didn't work for, say, Ani DiFranco, because, to pull it off, you have to have a potent voice and strong lyrics; Ani is short on both counts. Patty Griffin is amply blessed in... at least one of those categories.

I'll have to get back to you about the lyrics. They're well written, but they're so melancholy that I'm not sure if I'll be able to listen to this too regularly. We'll see.

All in all, a fine recording. It will be in my stereo for many moons.

[bethany]

Awesome. I knew you'd love Patty if you listened to her.

Living With Ghosts was actually her demo. She recorded it, then recorded another version with many of the same songs and a full band, but the record label didn't like it, so they sent her back to record a few more songs with just her and her guitar, and they realeased LWG.  All her other albums have fuller sounds with a band, but I'm still partial to LWG, perhaps because it was my Patty introduction. However, Flaming Red has a totally different sound - it opens with violently strummed electric guitar and drums pounding. 1000 Kisses isn't just her and a guitar, but it's more mellow and along the lines of LWG. A bit less melancholy perhaps? But not much. And then there's her new album, Impossible Dream, which has just a lot of different stuff - gospel, acoustic, rock, whathaveyou.  It's all good.

[enemy anemone]

I was looking for info on Patty Griffin and Emmylou Harris and found this Real stream of a concert at Carnegie Hall. it's mostly Emmylou, but on some songs she is joined by Julie Miller, Patty Griffin, and Kate and Anna McGarrigle (don't know who the latter two are). but yeah, good stuff. give it a listen if you can. I've only listened to part of the first hour and should go to bed now but I love Wayfaring Stranger and I Ain't Living Long Like This, esp. the guitar solos. I think Buddy Miller plays guitar in the band.

[Josh]

My review of the new album is up.

[DvChWi]

Of all the three records I got to hear through Josh in our recent swap, this one is far and away my favorite at the moment(though Sam Phillips has a tendency to sneak up on me fast after many listens.)  Griffin's voice is like a mix between Kerin Peris and Emmylou Harris, which is very cool.  Very nice album.

[glatisant]

I borrowed Flaming Red from the library yesterday.  Woohoo!  

(though Sam Phillips has a tendency to sneak up on me fast after many listens.)

Agree with that.  Her voice and lyrics are so very...chewy is the word that comes to mind here, but really, it's more elegant than the word would suggest.

[enemy anemone]

I just bought tickets to a Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue concert on Friday. Patty will be performing along with Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Gillian Welch, and David Rawlings. I have no idea what to expect but I'm looking forward to it.

[-Bethany-]

Schil, if I were you I would expect to be blown out of my seat by sheer musical goodness. Is Julie Miller playing too, or just Buddy? I'm so jealous of you.  So many amazing musicians in one place...one feels the universe might implode.

[enemy anemone]

Julie's not listed as being part of the tour but I saw on buddyandjulie.com that she might make a few of the shows. I hope she's there!  

[enemy anemone]

Bethany, you were right--it was amazing. I was especially taken with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings--I hadn't really heard their music before, but wow, David plays a mean guitar. Buddy played a couple songs from his upcoming album, and I *loved* them. aaaah, they were all great.

[Josh]

Schil, did Buddy play guitar for Emmylou, or has she found a new guitarist?

And speaking of Buddy's upcoming album, I think it wins the award for the best album cover of the year so far:

[enemy anemone]

Buddy played guitar with her, but there *was* an additional guitarist there; I didn't catch his name. he was good, too, but Emmylou and Buddy are so great together.
 

[glatisant]

[enemy anemone]

Goodbye is one of my favorite Patty songs.

I came across a link to a bit torrent of the Sweet Harmony show in Cleveland, OH. you have to register, but registration is free. I'm downloading it now...

http://bt.easytree.org/torrents-details.php?id=4269

[Josh]

Jeffrey Overstreet reviews Impossible Dream.

[enemy anemone]

I haven't bought Impossible Dream yet, but I need to.

do you happen to know, Josh, if any of the music critics you read have reviewed anything by Gillian Welch?

the Sweet Harmony download worked and I've been listening to it almost exclusively since then. good stuff.

[Josh]

do you happen to know, Josh, if any of the music critics you read have reviewed anything by Gillian Welch?
 

Yep. Jeffrey Overstreet has reviewed two of her albums. Just scroll to the bottom of the page.    

[enemy anemone]

interesting reviews...thanks, Josh!
I'm surprised that in his review on Time (the Revelator), Overstreet doesn't make any mention of the song "Revelator". it's a must-hear in my book.  

[enemy anemone]

resurrecting this old thread...

came across a glowing review of Patty's upcoming album, Children Running Through. it's from the current (Jan-Feb 2007) issue of No Depression with Lucinda Williams on the cover.

------------------------
Perhaps, even after a half-dozen well-regarded albums, a good handful of high-profile songwriting cuts, and regular reminders that Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller and countless others think well of her work... perhaps we haven't properly been introduced to Patty Griffin yet.

Children Running Through opens softly, muted bass strings plucked against brushed drums, and then she eases into the microphone: confident, gloriously self-assured, bold and subtle all at once. She soars. The song is called "You'll Remember", and you will.

It is as if, for the first time in her career, Griffin is ready to stare her listeners straight in the eye, square her shoulders, and say, "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I am damn good. Let me show you." And then blow the room away.

Every other record she has made-- and most of them are quite good-- seems now to have been a preamble to this work, by leaps and bounds the best of her career. It is possible, in hindsight, to trace all the elements back to other songs, other experiments, other producers. Other times. But even if everything she has done before seems to lead directly to this album, it still arrived as a shock. Even wincing against the danger of hyperbole, if somebody makes a better record in 2007, it will have been a spectacular year.

Leaps and bounds better, and yet a completely logical progression. It's not the songwriting, long Griffin's easy strength, though sure enough these dozen tracks betray the careful hand of an accomplished writer. And it's not even the varied musical settings, the strings, the horns, the near absence of electric guitar (though there's plenty that rocks.)

It's her voice.

Maybe this is simply a matter of co-producer Michael McCarthy's microphone choice and placement, or of mixing preferences, or of some other studio magic. Perhaps, even, it's simply that, for the first time, Griffin is co-producing herself. Nah, probably not. Children Running Through is all about Griffin reveling in the suddenly-- startlingly-- enormous power of her singing.

Power she uses judiciously. "Railroad wings", the latest in a series of childhood memory pieces, is tenderly sung, hushed, as if performed in the quiet of a very solitary place. So is its mate, "Burgendy Shoes", set mostly against Ian McLagan's understated piano lline. "Stay On The Ride", the newest among her bracing and sensitive songs about old age (the Dixie Chicks covered one) works into a joyous, nearly gospel lather. By contrast, "Heavenly Day" is close to full-blown pop, complete with strings. "No Bad News" (possible an anti-Bush tongue-lashing, and as easily not) is carried by firmly stroked nylon strings and vein-popping vocals.

Power she controls utterly. What could be a pro-forma kiss-off, "Getting Ready" ("Oh baby, I'm getting ready/I'm getting ready to let you go") quickly turns from an uptempo crowd-pleaser into an elegant and brutally honest dissection of a failing relationship. And yet remains a crowd-pleaser.

Power she shares, singing easily with Emmylou Harris-- neither of them drawing attention to their voices, only to the song-- on the circus short story "Trapeze". Throughout, she leaves abundant room for her ensemble (regulars, including Doug Lancio on guitars, Michael Langoria on percussion, and J.D. Foster or Glenn Worf on bass) to propel each song forward, striking exactly the right mood, framing each song-- and her voice-- with exquisite precision.

And her voice.... She could always sing, of course. But this... this is singing.

-Grant Alden

------------------------
press release and album cover/photos here.

[enemy anemone]

there's a full mp3 of Heavenly Day from the upcoming album  here.

[dgp11776]

there's a full mp3 of Heavenly Day from the upcoming album  here.

That song is pretty fantastic.  I may have to check this album out when it releases.

[Josh]

I should have a copy of this album in a few days.

[enemy anemone]

lucky! you make it so easy to hate you.

dgp, yes, you should!

me, I prefer Patty's sad songs, but for a happy song, Heavenly Day is good 'un. showcases her voice very nicely.

just to pass along the news, B&N will be carrying an exclusive release with 2 additional songs. I don't like marketing gimmicks like that but oh well.

[Josh]

If you're a longtime Patty Griffin fan, you should be very, very excited about her new album, Children Running Through. Why? Because it's the best album she's ever done, so much so that it makes her other records feel more like warm-ups or preambles; this here is the real deal. And if you've never heard of Patty Griffin before, you should be very, very excited. Why? Because there's no better time to become a fan, and this is the album that'll do it. She's enjoying the best production she's ever received, and she's never sounded better as a singr; listening to this album reminds me of the first time I heard Karin Bergquist sing in concert, after listening to her on CD for so many years... I knew she was good, but wow! The songwriting is uniformly great, and there are so many styles-- rock, funk, country, pop, jazz-- that it'll leave you in need of a good breather. The record drops on February 6, and you really don't want to miss out.

Stunning.

[Josh Powell]

*drools*

[Josh]

I've been drooling all weekend, actually-- and I HAVE the album. It's an absolutely devastating set; I've been glued to my stereo for three days now, and this is all I've been playing.

[Aaron]

Can someone knit a bib for Josh?

[Josh]

Make that Joshes.