Patty Griffin, born Patricia Jean Griffin, March 16, 1964, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and Grammy award nominee, whose songs have been performed by the elite of several musical genres. She is especially known for her down-home crafting of songs and her connection to musicians including Emmylou Harris, and the Dixie Chicks, who have played with her onstage as well as performing cover songs of Griffin's work, exposing many of her compositions to mainstream pop and country music audiences outside Griffin's folk music circle of fans. She is also a recipient of the Americana Music Association's highest honor as "Artist of the Year" in 2007, as well as taking home the award for best album for Children Running Through.
Patty Griffin hails from Old Town, Maine, United States, next to the Penobscot Native American reservation. She is primarily a guitarist, pianist, and vocalist, with a distinctive voice. The youngest child in her family with six older siblings, she bought a guitar for $50.00 at age 16, and sang and played, but had no inclination at the time to become a professional musician. After a short marriage which ended in 1992, Griffin began playing in Boston coffee houses, and was scouted by A&M Records, who signed Griffin on the strength of her demo tape; however it was overproduced, so Nile Rodgers and A&M instead released a stripped-down reworking of her demo tape, as an album called Living with Ghosts.
1998's Flaming Red was a departure from the acoustic sound of Living with Ghosts, with a mix of mellow songs with some rock and roll songs that border on new wave. The song "Tony" from this album is also featured on the charity benefit album Live in the X Lounge. The follow up Silver Bell had a similar sound, though it was also unreleased by A&M. Patty has rerecorded songs from that album for later releases (such as "Making Pies" for 1000 Kisses, and "Mother of God," "Standing," and "Top of the World" for Impossible Dream), and others have been covered by the Dixie Chicks. Copies of Silver Bell have leaked out, and can be acquired via the "B&P" (Blanks and Postage) method on message boards.
A&M dropped Griffin's contract after Silver Bell, and she was picked up by Dave Matthews' ATO Records. Four albums have followed so far on ATO, including 2002's Grammy-nominated 1000 Kisses.
In 2004, Griffin toured with Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings as the Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue. On February 6, 2007, she released Children Running Through. The album debuted at #34 on the Billboard 200 with 27,000 copies sold. Of the album, Griffin told Gibson Lifestyle, “I just kind of felt like singing what I wanted to sing, and playing how I wanted to play. It’s not all dark and tragic. It’s a different way for me to look at things. Getting old—older, I should say, I’m not so serious all the time.”
Griffin's songs have been recorded by artists such as Irish-born singer Maura O’Connell ("Long Ride Home"), Linda Ronstadt ("Falling Down"), the Dixie Chicks ("Truth No. 2," "Top of the World," "Let Him Fly"), Bette Midler ("Moses"), Beth Neilsen Chapman and Dixie Chicks ("Mary"), Mary-Chapin Carpenter ("Dear Old Friend"), Jessica Simpson ("Let Him Fly"), Martina McBride and Eve Selis("Goodbye"), Melissa Ferrick and Missy Higgins ("Moses"), Emmylou Harris ("One Big Love", "Moon Song"), Bethany Joy Galeotti ("Blue Sky"), The Wreckers ("One More Girl"), Joan Osborne ("What You Are"), Solomon Burke ("Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)"), and Miranda Lambert ("Getting Ready"). Kelly Clarkson performed "Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)" with Jeff Beck on the Idol Gives Back episode of American Idol, and the live recording was released as a single immediately afterwards, reaching #56 on the Billboard Hot 100 in its first week and giving Griffin her highest charting position as a songwriter. (The audience gave Clarkson a standing ovation following her performance.)
Griffin has appeared in several movies including Cremaster 2 and in Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown the soundtrack of which also included her song "Long Ride Home".
In 2007, the Atlantic Theater Company produced 10 Million Miles, an Off Broadway musical with Griffin's music as the soundtrack, and a book by Keith Bunin, directed by Michael Mayer.
Griffin's first DVD, "Patty Griffin: Live From The Artists Den" was filmed on February 6, 2007 at the Angel Orensanz Foundation For the Arts on New York’s Lower East Side and released later that year. Selections from the DVD were featured on the program Live from the Artists Den on Ovation TV beginning January 24, 2008.
Griffin's song, 'Heavenly Day' was featured in the last scene of a "Smallville" episode, Promise, at the end of Lex's and Lana's Wedding Day.
In 2007, Griffin was singled out by the Americana Music Association and awarded their top honor: Artist of the Year, and her album Children Running Through also received an honor from the Association. She performed "Trapeze", one of her more haunting songs, with Emmylou Harris harmonizing.
On June 13, 2008 Griffin performed an acoustic in the round set in Nashville, Tennessee with Kris Kristofferson and Randy Owen (Alabama) for a special taping of a PBS songwriters series to be aired in December 2008. Each performer played five songs - "Making Pies," "No Bad News," "Up to the Mountain," and "Mary."
