Today's the birthday of one of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters.
From the Patty Griffin fan website:
Patricia Jean Griffin was born March 16th, 1964 in Old Town, Maine, "in between the lake regions and the ocean, just before you hit the tree-line going into Canada". With an Irish-American father and French-Canadian mother, Patty grew up in a house filled with music. Her mother would sing as she did housework and her grandmother's family used to sing on their porch at night, watching the sun go down and harmonizing.
At sixteen, Patty bought herself a $55.00 used Honer guitar and began writing music. "I don't just like to sing, I love to sing. I used to run home from school, because I had a song in my mouth I had to get out" In high school, along with some friends, she formed the band Patty & The Executives and they would play cover songs at local venues. In 1985, after residing briefly in Florida, Patty moved to the Boston area. While working day jobs as a pizzeria waitress and a Harvard telephone operator, Patty continued to write poetry and play her guitar. Around 1991, Patty began singing in small clubs in the Boston area.
Scraping together enough money, she recorded a set of demos; in a room near Boston City Hospital (a couple of ambulance sirens provide the only other instrumental accompaniment on the album). The demo was produced and mixed by Steve Barry. It almost immediately attracted the attention of A&M Records, who signed her to a recording contract.
**Seven albums later, and her songs recorded by Linda Ronstadt ("Falling Down"), the Dixie Chicks ("Truth No. 2," "Top of the World," "Let Him Fly"), Bette Midler ("Moses"), Beth Nielsen Chapman and Dixie Chicks ("Mary"), Mary Chapin Carpenter ("Dear Old Friend"), Jessica Simpson ("Let Him Fly"), Martina McBride ("Goodbye"), Melissa Ferrick and Missy Higgins ("Moses"), Emmylou Harris ("One Big Love", "Moon Song"), Joan Osborne ("What You Are") and Solomon Burke ("Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)") , among others,
I prefer to hear her powerful and achingly emotive voice sing her sometimes sad, always moving songs.
From the Patty Griffin fan website:
Patricia Jean Griffin was born March 16th, 1964 in Old Town, Maine, "in between the lake regions and the ocean, just before you hit the tree-line going into Canada". With an Irish-American father and French-Canadian mother, Patty grew up in a house filled with music. Her mother would sing as she did housework and her grandmother's family used to sing on their porch at night, watching the sun go down and harmonizing.
At sixteen, Patty bought herself a $55.00 used Honer guitar and began writing music. "I don't just like to sing, I love to sing. I used to run home from school, because I had a song in my mouth I had to get out" In high school, along with some friends, she formed the band Patty & The Executives and they would play cover songs at local venues. In 1985, after residing briefly in Florida, Patty moved to the Boston area. While working day jobs as a pizzeria waitress and a Harvard telephone operator, Patty continued to write poetry and play her guitar. Around 1991, Patty began singing in small clubs in the Boston area.
Scraping together enough money, she recorded a set of demos; in a room near Boston City Hospital (a couple of ambulance sirens provide the only other instrumental accompaniment on the album). The demo was produced and mixed by Steve Barry. It almost immediately attracted the attention of A&M Records, who signed her to a recording contract.
**Seven albums later, and her songs recorded by Linda Ronstadt ("Falling Down"), the Dixie Chicks ("Truth No. 2," "Top of the World," "Let Him Fly"), Bette Midler ("Moses"), Beth Nielsen Chapman and Dixie Chicks ("Mary"), Mary Chapin Carpenter ("Dear Old Friend"), Jessica Simpson ("Let Him Fly"), Martina McBride ("Goodbye"), Melissa Ferrick and Missy Higgins ("Moses"), Emmylou Harris ("One Big Love", "Moon Song"), Joan Osborne ("What You Are") and Solomon Burke ("Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)") , among others,
I prefer to hear her powerful and achingly emotive voice sing her sometimes sad, always moving songs.
4 comments:
I couldn't play the list, and am now curious about her music! I must confess I have never heard of her, nor -sadly-any of the songs arranged or sung by other artists. I like, though, her upbringing story, which leads me to believe that she writes nice music. Off to YouTube now!
Thank you for this very informative post on a songwriter I've never heard of before.
She's always been sort of on my radar - she sounds like Jonatha Brooke.
Although I was just saying yesterday that I prefer male singer / songwriters... and I don't know why, really.
Just like Claus above I couldn't play the list, but *loved* the story of her life, so had to visit YouTube!!!:) I'm listening to a song called 'Rain' and it's great!!!:)
Post a Comment