@ The Bijou Theatre, Knoxville, August 16
by Andrew Clayman
Published in The Metro Pulse, August 2007
Popular culture is not often kind to the middle-aged woman. More times than not, she is forced into the shadows by younger, sexier performers with considerably less talent. Consider Patty Griffin an exception to the rule—a first rate singer/songwriter who has seen her national notoriety grow as she’s entered her 40’s.
Like Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris before her, Griffin uses a palette of country, folk, gospel, and blues influences to write songs that are wholly original, sharp, and often moving. Her talents reached an apex on her latest CD, Children Running Through, which has received wild acclaim as one of the year’s best albums.
Starting with a sparse, haunting demo tape, the Boston-based Griffin was first signed to A&M Records in 1996, where those early, Tori Amos-like tunes were repackaged as her debut, Living With Ghosts. Her follow-up effort, the fuller sounding Flaming Red, met with equal critical love, but after its release, Griffin departed A&M, eventually signing to Dave Matthews’ startup label, ATO.
Griffin’s ATO material, including Children Running Through, as well as 2004’s shimmering, folk epic Impossible Dream, have earned her increasing attention not only from fans and critics, but amongst her peers. In recent years, her soulful, poetic songs have been covered by the likes of the Dixie Chicks, Solomon Burke, Emmylou Harris, and Martina McBride, among others.
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