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Review
If an artist is to be judged by her friends, Patty Griffin is a superstar. Her songs have been recorded by Emmylou Harris, Mary Chapin Carpenter and the Dixie Chicks; Buddy and Julie Miller are guests on this album, as is the gorgeous voice of former Maverick Raul Malo.
It doesn’t take much listening, though, to realise what qualifies her to call on such luminaries. Her reedy but soulful voice wraps itself round some classic gospel songs, but the surprise is that only one of these is written by herself, although she has a strong track record as a songwriter.
Her choice of material sounds like it bears the strong influence of producer Buddy Miller. He has always championed the gravelly side of what we might call Americana or alt-country; but this, simply, is honest country music. Buddy seems to have recognised in Patty’s voice and delivery an earthiness that hasn’t been fully exploited in the past.
Downtown Church is full of astonishing songs. It opens with Hank Williams’ House of Gold, and there’s a bit of Lieber and Stoller silliness with I Smell a Rat. As for Sullivan Pugh’s unsettling Waiting for My Child from 1963, where did they find that? Then, from the obscure to the obvious – Wade in the Water. There is some severe God-bothering going on, but don’t let that put you off, as the music’s what it is, regardless of whom it’s about.
The album was recorded in a Nashville church, and Griffin had plenty to choose from – there are over a thousand in the Tennessee capital, making it arguably the most churched settlement in the States. This particular building they got right, as the acoustics inside the Nashville Downtown Presbyterian Church sound wonderful. You can spend as much money as you want on digital manipulation, on echoes and reverbs pulled from the electronic shelf, but nothing sound as good as twanging strings moving the air and banging back and forth between hard walls.
The straight rendering of the hymn All Creatures of Our God and King may wear some down at the album’s end, but otherwise this is one destined for the iPod. --Nick Barraclough
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Patty Griffin, one of the finest singer/songwriters around, here tackles a collection of old-time gospel covers in a sort of "Nashville goes to Church" concept that, when it succeeds, is uplifting and quite gorgeous. The problem lies in the fact that Patty Griffin IS one of the finest singer/songwriters around, and her own two self-penned tracks on this album shine above all the rest in their heart-breaking simplicity and unforced beauty. As an atheist, a great deal of the sentiments on this album are lost on me, but if I have to have someone leading me through this kind of territory, I couldn't have hoped for a better singer to do so. Patty brings fire and tenderness to these songs in all the right measurements, even injecting a little stirring rockabilly into songs like "Move On Up" and "I Smell a Rat", as well as bringing her customary soulfulness and extraordinairy voice to songs like "Waiting for My Child" and "Wade in the Water". And yet...and yet...there are occasional dips into Grand Ole Opry cheesiness, replete with steel guitars and weepy sentiment, in songs like "House of Gold" and "Never Grow Old" that sit uncomfortably with the knowledge that, left to her own devices, Patty Griffin can distil the most powerful of emotions into a few well-crafted lines of her own and put them across in a way that will shake you to your very soul. Her motivations (and I'm cribbing, here, from Red on Black's excellent review) seems to be to explore her own relationship with God and faith, but the Canadian artist Veda Hille tackled the same task with far more inventiveness and originality on her own exploration, "This Riot Life". Patty Griffin has written many other songs that have done far more to make me ponder my own place in the universe, and I look forward to her turning her immense talents and charm to a collection of new material. In the meantime, this will do just fine, but it does feel more of an exercise in marking time, and if I could give it three and a half stars, I would.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I have just heard this entire album on a live streaming site and it just goes to confirm the genius of Patty Griffin. She explores her feelings about life, religion, love and loss throughout this album and draws listeners in to reviewing their own feelings about the same things. Her voice continues to improve and it dominates proceedings on this album, soaring over some beautifully arranged gospel tunes which were recorded in the Downtown Presbtyterian Church in Nashville. Mostly on the slow side there are a couple of uptempo songs (Move Up with great call and response vocals and I smell a Rat), a nicely nuanced version of Wade in the Water, but the overall feeling is one of meditation and reflection, culminating in a wonderful rendition at the end of the hymn All Creatures of our God and King, with just piano for accompaniment. This is an yet another Patty Griffin album that should be in everybody's collection. Brilliant.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Patty Griffin is one of American greatest songwriters bar none and if her albums especially "1000 Kisses" were compared to fine wines then they would be 1787 vintage Sauternes from Chateau d'Yquem. If she sang in my local church this wasted sinner would get religion and become devout. And of course there is THAT voice. Griffin sings like the metaphorical angel and to have both her and Emmylou Harris undertaking a duet on the delicious "Little Fire" is this reviewers idea of earthly paradise.
Patty Griffin's latest LP is a gospel album cut in a 160-year-old Nashville Presbyterian church that once welcomed Andrew Jackson and survived the Civil War as a hospital for Union soldiers. She has of course sung gospel before (Heavenly Day) but the dedication of a whole album to the genre could some cause hesitation amongst people who are not fans. I was recently intrigued to watch the former Roxy Music dilettante and great producer Brian Eno (Bowie, U2 et al) on BBC 4 state his deep love for Gospel music which as he eloquently states "is always about the possibility of transcendence, of things getting better. It's also about the loss of ego, that you will win through or get over things by losing yourself, becoming part of something better. Both those messages are completely universal and are nothing to do with religion or a particular religion". Griffin clearly understands this and has assembled a stellar support cast to assist her in this enterprise. Does it succeed? Is the Pope a Catholic? "Downtown Church" is a stunningly powerful and mature performance from a singer who is able to transcend musical boundaries. Do not be put off by the spiritual dimension to this. If you loved the eclecticism of the soundtrack for "Oh Brother where art thou" this has the same variety and feel.
Thus "I smell a rat" and "Move up" are full of rockabilly swagger, The brilliant "Wade in the Water" is a jazzy blues affair with superb backing from Regina McCrary and Mike Farris. "Death's got a warrant" is pure gospel and conjures up images of the deep south and hot Louisiana nights. Virgen De Guadalupe should be listened to in a remote bar on the Texas Mexico border with a bottle of tequila and the sun sinking into the distance. Alternatively songs which could sit on previous Griffin albums include the soulful "Never grow old" where she is backed by Buddy Miller and the mesmerizing "Coming home to me" which is utterly heartbreaking and poignant, this is one of her greatest vocals of her career to date.
The album concludes with a version of Doc Watson spiritual "We shall all be reunited" and a stunning version of the old hymn "All Creatures of Our God and King" on which the overwhelming class of Griffin shine through, it never sounded like this in my school assembly!
Let's get it straight Griffin is no card-carrying member of the religious right indeed she has stated that this album is about working through her own complicated feelings about religion and her own sense of faith. Whether she has reached this reconciliation is not our issue, and indeed whether you are religious or not is immaterial. The music must speak for itself and what it tells us is that here is an artist at the absolute peak of her powers. Magical.
Patty Griffin's latest LP is a gospel album cut in a 160-year-old Nashville Presbyterian church that once welcomed Andrew Jackson and survived the Civil War as a hospital for Union soldiers. She has of course sung gospel before (Heavenly Day) but the dedication of a whole album to the genre could some cause hesitation amongst people who are not fans. I was recently intrigued to watch the former Roxy Music dilettante and great producer Brian Eno (Bowie, U2 et al) on BBC 4 state his deep love for Gospel music which as he eloquently states "is always about the possibility of transcendence, of things getting better. It's also about the loss of ego, that you will win through or get over things by losing yourself, becoming part of something better. Both those messages are completely universal and are nothing to do with religion or a particular religion". Griffin clearly understands this and has assembled a stellar support cast to assist her in this enterprise. Does it succeed? Is the Pope a Catholic? "Downtown Church" is a stunningly powerful and mature performance from a singer who is able to transcend musical boundaries. Do not be put off by the spiritual dimension to this. If you loved the eclecticism of the soundtrack for "Oh Brother where art thou" this has the same variety and feel.
Thus "I smell a rat" and "Move up" are full of rockabilly swagger, The brilliant "Wade in the Water" is a jazzy blues affair with superb backing from Regina McCrary and Mike Farris. "Death's got a warrant" is pure gospel and conjures up images of the deep south and hot Louisiana nights. Virgen De Guadalupe should be listened to in a remote bar on the Texas Mexico border with a bottle of tequila and the sun sinking into the distance. Alternatively songs which could sit on previous Griffin albums include the soulful "Never grow old" where she is backed by Buddy Miller and the mesmerizing "Coming home to me" which is utterly heartbreaking and poignant, this is one of her greatest vocals of her career to date.
The album concludes with a version of Doc Watson spiritual "We shall all be reunited" and a stunning version of the old hymn "All Creatures of Our God and King" on which the overwhelming class of Griffin shine through, it never sounded like this in my school assembly!
Let's get it straight Griffin is no card-carrying member of the religious right indeed she has stated that this album is about working through her own complicated feelings about religion and her own sense of faith. Whether she has reached this reconciliation is not our issue, and indeed whether you are religious or not is immaterial. The music must speak for itself and what it tells us is that here is an artist at the absolute peak of her powers. Magical.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good But Not As Good As Past Albums
I love Patty Griffen and certainly her voice continues to develop and there is no doubt that her feeling and soul come to the fore in this her latest outing. Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2010 by B. L. Ramsay
Great-sounding record that avoids most of the modern gospel cliches
Patty Griffin is a wonderful songwriter whose songs have been covered by the Dixie Chicks, Jessica Simpson, Bette Midler, Solomon Burke and (God-help-us) Susan Boyle, so in many... Read more
Published on 1 Mar 2010 by G. E. Harrison
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