Patty Griffin emotionally dances her way to releasing a very personal but high-quality release. Take a listen, observe a craftswoman at work.
Two time Grammy Award winner Patty Griffin is one of the more eminent songwriters of the americana genre and has been over an extended period. It’s always an occasion when she releases a new record; “Crown of Roses” is no exception, this being her 11th studio album release (starting with 1996’s “Living With Ghosts“) but with a gap of a little over six years since her previous mainstream release “Patty Griffin” (excluding the excellent 2022 release, “Tape” which principally consisted of songs recorded by Griffin at her home), the anticipation of this release is heightened. Griffin’s Grammy Award wins were for the 2010 album “Downtown Church” as Best Traditional Gospel Album and 2019’s “Patty Griffin” record won in the Best Folk Album category. She has been nominated seven times in total.
The list of artists who have recorded Griffin songs is, you could say, extensive; with Emmylou Harris, The Chicks, Sugarland, Kelly Clarkson and Bette Midler instantly springing to mind.
This is very much an introspective record, covering a range of topics which are deeply personal to Griffin; some of which are hard to deal with, like the death of her mother and her own treatment for cancer. Griffin describes her approach to these topics as “emotionally dancing around things“, rather than approaching them head on. Griffin wrote six of the eight tunes here, with the other two being co-writes with David Pulkingham (‘A Word‘) and with David Pulkingham and Michael Longoria (‘Born in a Cage‘). The album’s cover art centres around a wedding day pic of Griffin’s late mother wearing a crown of roses, set amongst images of things which were important to her, such as landscapes, flowers, butterflies and birds, in a stunning piece of art produced by Mishka Westell. Griffin came to “Crown of Roses” after experiencing a change in the tone of her voice brought on by the cancer treatment.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, while many songwriters found themselves to be very productive, Griffin experienced the opposite. She reflects “Sometimes I feel like the Earth is oversaturated with words, and I just didn’t feel confident about adding anything to the conversation”. As it turned out Griffin did find some creativity during that period and although she binned a number of abortive attempts to come up with something which she felt happy with, at times she would subsequently revisit these songs and rework them until she was satisfied. Recording of “Crown of Roses” took place at Finishing School studio in Austin, Texas, with longtime Griffin go-to producer Craig Ross. Ross also played on the record (mainly bass).
‘Back At The Start’ opens proceedings (it was also the first single plucked from the album) and it’s a cracker of a song that bobs along on its shuffle beat and a persistent baritone guitar line. It opens with a line that really grabs your attention: “There’s secrets I don’t tell ever to myself, I just keep moving”. Griffin says that this song was one of the songs she started to write during the pandemic, discarded it but eventually came back around to it. As she puts it, “I came back to the song because I like that first line. Part of it is about getting on with it, but part is also about staying stuck and going through the motions. It’s really a constant thing to try to be alive while you’re alive”.
‘Born in a Cage‘ (the LP’s second single) is a gentle, acoustic ballad; it features Heather Trost on violin and Jeremy Barnes playing the santúr, a zither-like stringed instrument with the strings stretched above a shallow wooden box, but played by striking the strings. The song aims to relay what Griffin’s mother was experiencing towards the end of her life.
The haunting ‘Long Time‘ features an appearance by Griffin’s close friend Robert Plant, who contributes backing vocals. While ‘All the Way Home‘ is at times quiet, at others quite rousing, with Griffin singing “Did someone sing all the way home? They laid me to rest and hoped for the best, but that’s one place I’ve never known“.
‘Way up to the Sky‘ is an intimate song, performed by Griffin solo, just her voice and guitar. Like some others on the record, this could be about Griffin’s mother, she sings “It was a hard time, It was a long line, It was a steep climb, With too many kids to handle, She got her kids raised, And her nerves frayed, As her life blazed through her eyes, made out of candles“. Griffin was the youngest of seven siblings. It focuses on things from a woman’s perspective, which is a definite theme of the LP, which Griffin acknowledges is a change of style for her, with a nod to the fact that much of her prior work had been around men and trying to understand them.
‘I Know a Way‘ is slightly more upbeat, with some nice, restrained guitar playing by Pulkingham. Alongside ‘Back at the Start‘, this is a standout cut on the album; it features what is perhaps Griffin’s best vocal here. Then the record comes to a conclusion with ‘A Word‘, another heartwrencher, which closes with the words “The love you leave on earth goes round forever, And I don’t know how, As dreams keep burning down, To turn it all around, But I will never stop loving you“.
This is relatively short for a long player in modern terms, coming in at just over 34 minutes, but quality shines from every bar of music and every syllable of the lyrics. Some of the songs take a couple of listens to really get into; they are not immediate, but are none the worse for that. Let’s hope that we don’t have to wait another six years for another record from Griffin the craftswoman.
