| For The Record... |
| Born c. 1964; father taught high school physics and chemistry; mother was a homemaker; married (divorced, 1992). Began performing in clubs in Boston area; signed with A&M Records; released debut album Living With Ghosts, 1996; performed in Lilith Fair concert tour, 1997; released Flaming Red, 1998; 1000 Kisses, 2002; Impossible Dream, 2004; A Kiss in Time, 2004; Children Running Through, 2007; singles used in the films The Newton Boys and Niagra, Niagra. Addresses: ATO Records—44 Wall St., 22nd Fl, New York, NY 10005, (212) 422-4280; Management: Vector Management—P.O. Box 120479 Nashville, TN 37212, (615) 269.6600 |
Singer, songwriter
Folk and rock singer Patty Griffin burst onto the national music scene in 1996 with her stark acoustic CD Living with Ghosts. Called a "stunning piece of work, an unprecedented major-label debut by a relative unknown featuring just her naked vocals and acoustic guitar, with no overdubs" by Seth Rogovoy in Hotwired, "the album introduced a singer-songwriter of uncommon power." John Scheinman, writing in Virginia's Fairfax Journal, declared, "Here's this woman from Old Town, Maine … making the kind of record only Bob Dylan gets to make anymore. … [But] Griffin doesn't need a band to fill the spaces because the songs come out of her gut with a conviction that's more than enough."
Her second album, Flaming Red, proved Griffin to be a musician of remarkable versatility and range, capable of hard rockers, contemplative ballads, melancholy country tunes, and bright pop songs. Far from alienating her fans, Flaming Red solidified Griffin's position as an important talent, revealing her as a musician willing to challenge her listeners rather than simply fulfilling their expectations.
Griffin was the youngest of seven children—three sisters and three brothers—in a struggling family in Old Town, Maine, a town near Bangor. Her father taught high school physics and chemistry, and her mother kept house and raised the children. Griffin grew up among singers. Her mother had a beautiful singing voice, her grandparents often sang on their porch in the evening, and from an early age Patty knew she wanted to be a singer. Her parents tried to convince her that the idea was frivolous, hoping to shield her from disappointment; however, they did buy music for her. Her father gave her her first record, the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Griffin's other early musical influences, for lyrical imagery in particular, included Bruce Springsteen, Rickie Lee Jones, Elvis Costello, America, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Stevie Nicks. When she was 16, Griffin bought herself an inexpensive guitar and started writing songs. She didn't know whether she could sing, but she did know she wanted to sing.
After graduating from high school, Griffin moved to Florida, where she lived for two years. There she concentrated mostly on sports. She eventually applied the self-discipline and goal-setting required in athletics to her work as a musician. In an interview with Philip Van Vleck of North Carolina's Raleigh Spectator, she compared music and sports: "It's a lot like what an athlete goes through. A lot of repetition, a lot of repetition, and then at some point, hopefully, it all starts to work for you." Eventually Griffin moved to Boston and married. But she spent most of her time there as a waitress and was not able to pursue her music career in earnest.
At the end of 1992 she was jolted into performing when her husband told her he wanted a divorce. Single again, Griffin started performing in various Boston clubs to support herself. At the same time she was shopping around a demo tape that was recorded in a kitchen in Nashville and in a room near Boston City Hospital, in which the sound of ambulance sirens could be heard behind the music. Griffin caught the attention of a scout from A&M Records, who invited her to audition. Overwhelmed by her natural talent, he persuaded her to re-record a second, stripped-down tape with just her voice and a guitar. Six months later she landed a deal with the label. Most of the demo tape was used on her debut release Living With Ghosts.
Griffin described the ten emotionally turbulent tunes on Living With Ghosts to Rogovoy as "pretty honest, pretty close to what I really am." They reveal her roots in soul, pop, and country, and range over such topics as poverty, loneliness, anger, and the dissolution of love. Because of her music's themes and passionate intensity, Griffin has been compared by music critics to Kurt Cobain and Alanis Morissette. Van Vleck called Living With Ghosts "a spare piece of work … nothing but Griffin, an acoustic guitar and 10 very potent, very intimate songs. … Her strengths are the immediacy of her performance and the emotional depth of her lyrics."
Even after Griffin had left behind the personal experiences that resulted in Ghosts, new listeners continued to discover and identify with the record. "The album … is a collection of tunes from a time in my life when I definitely needed to express what was going on inside," Griffin told Van Vleck. "I keep remembering that people are hearing these songs for the first time and I draw from that knowledge when performing."
A&M's decision to release Griffin's minimalist album was unusual for a major label. "Realizing [A&M was] attached to those solo performances made me appreciate the strength of them and gave me the guts to ask if they'd put them out that way," Griffin told Van Vleck. John Scheinman praised A&M's insight, writing that "Living With Ghosts is such a startling debut. The label left well enough alone and just let Griffin be herself." Living With Ghosts far exceeded expectations at A&M in terms of sales, and the label quickly stepped up its promotion machine for Griffin and supported the making of her second release in every way possible.
In 1998, after playing the all-women's Lilith Fair concert tour, Griffin's second CD, Flaming Red, was released to great critical and popular acclaim. In startling contrast to her acoustic debut release, the new album, produced by Jay Joyce, saw Griffin backed by a full band, including Joyce on guitar and powerhouse rock drummer Kenny Aronoff from John Mellancamp's band. The album included a wide variety of musical forms, including ballads, rock and roll, and pop singles. "Even when Griffin rocks her hardest … her crystal voice commands the high ground," wrote a People reviewer, "and she never allows the sound to drown out the lyrics of these 13 well-crafted songs."
Griffin's work was included in the soundtracks for two films: she played with Bad Liver on the single "Copenhagen" in Richard Linklater's The Newton Boys, and her singles "Not Alone" and "Regarding Mary" were featured in the soundtrack to Niagra, Niagra.
Griffin recorded a third album for A&M, titled Silver Bell, but it was never released because A&M merged with Interscope. Interscope dropped Griffin from its list but kept the album without releasing it. Griffin moved to Dave Matthews's label, ATO, and went on with her career. In 2000 she toured with the Dixie Chicks, earning a host of new fans. In 2002 her album 1000 Kisses was nominated for a Grammy Award. The album featured guest vocals by singers including Bette Midler, Emmylou Harris, and the Dixie Chicks. In the Advocate, Margaret Coble wrote that on 1000 Kisses, "[Griffin] sounds better and digs deeper than ever before."
In 2004 Griffin released Impossible Dream. Coble commented that Griffin's "agile command of rhyme, meter, repetition, and alliteration … rivals traditional folk classics" and that "she pairs her poetic lyrics with penetrating vocals and infectious melodies that make you want to belt along at the top of your lungs."
In 2007 Griffin released Children Running Through, which included a mix of rock, folk, country, and blues. In Billboard, Kate Hasty wrote, "This dynamic collection has something unexpected at every turn." In that same year, Griffin's music moved to the Broadway stage in the musical Ten Million Miles, which had a plot featuring characters and stories from many of her songs. An unpredictable, honest musician with natural talent, Griffin has continued to surprise her audience and chart new musical terrain.
Selected discography
Living With Ghosts, A&M Records, 1996.
Flaming Red, A&M Records, 1998.
1000 Kisses, ATO, 2002.
Impossible Dream, ATO, 2004.
A Kiss in Time, ATO, 2004.
Children Running Through, ATO, 2007.
Sources
Periodicals
Advocate, May 11, 2004, p. 88.
Billboard, May 18, 1996, p. 12; February 10, 2007, p. 77.
Boston Phoenix, March 7, 1997.
Business Week, February 19, 2007, p. 78.
Entertainment Weekly, December 3, 2004, p. 50.
Fairfax Journal (Virginia), March 14, 1997.
Fort Worth Star Telegram, April 19, 1997.
New York, June 25, 2007, p. 71.
People, July 20, 1998.
Raleigh Spectator (North Carolina), March 6, 1997.
Sing Out, Spring 2004, p. 136; Fall 2004, p. 72.
Texas Monthly, December 2007, p. 72.
Online
A&M Records Web site, (currently operates under the Interscope-Geffen-A&M division), http://www.a&mrecords.com.
Contemporary Musicians © 1989-2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
