Patty Griffin | Texas Music Magazine

Album:

Downtown Church

Record Label:

Credential/EMI

By:

Tom Buckley

Patty Griffin has long acknowledged her debt to black music, and, given her soulful, soaring voice, it was only a matter of time before she’d record her own gospel record. That’s not to suggest she hasn’t dipped her toes in those waters before; the best moments of her last recording, Children Running Through, were two such tunes, “Heavenly Day” and “Up to the Mountain” (based on MLK’s final speech). So it’s no surprise that Downtown Church — named for the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville where the album was recorded, with Griffin belting out vocals from the pulpit — would be gloriously spiritual and uplifting even when toiling in sin and suffering. Griffin, raised Catholic, has a notion of gospel that’s certainly catholic, reflected in the album’s diverse styles — from black gospel to white Southern gospel to Hispanic gospel traditions; folk to country to blues; spirituals and ballads and a closing hymn; covers and originals. What unites the project, produced by Buddy Miller, is Griffin’s reverence for the material, as well as her trademark voice — as pure and as stirring as ever, her vocals achiev- ing an astonishing authenticity despite the stylistic mix. The dark, tragic foundation of these songs clearly brings Griffin joy, particularly when she’s delivering the greasy “I Smell a Rat,” an homage to Big Mama Thornton. But the center- piece of the album is one of Griffin’s own compositions — inspired by Bob Dylan’s religious music — the moving ballad “Coming Home to Me,” on which Griffin and Buddy’s wife, Julie Miller har- monize exquisitely. Even to the most hard-hearted, the gospel according to Patty offers both deliverance and redemption.