Album of the Week
A recent study on religion in America shows that there has been a fairly dramatic spike in non-believers over the past ten years. That is to say that more and more people are citing no religion as their religion of choice. It shouldn't be all that surprising then to learn that Patty Griffin was struggling with her own religious beliefs when it was suggested that she do an entire album of gospel songs.
What might seem like a tall order for a little lady with a big voice manifested into Griffin's seventh album, Downtown Church. She first enlisted one of Music Row's finest, Buddy Miller, to produce the album and then asked him to find her a church to record it in. Well, Miller one-upped that request and delivered the 150-year-old Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville.
And so over the course of one week during January of 2009, Griffin climbed the pulpit of that magnificent downtown church backed by no less than nine musicians -- not to mention a rotating who's who of great voices that include Shawn Colvin, Emmylou Harris, Regina and Ann McCrary, and Julie Miller -- to record a soul-stirring collection of gospel varietals that would become Downtown Church.
Those who know anything about Griffin know that her songwriting chops tend to float to the top of her musical resume. Her songs have been covered by Solomon Burke, the Dixie Chicks, Miranda Lambert and Bette Midler to name a few. She penned two originals for Downtown Church -- "Little Fire" and "Coming Home to Me" -- and coupled those with black gospel classics (a foot-tapping rendition of the Swan Silvertones' "Move Up" with a killer bass-line and Dorothy Love Coates' "The Strange Man" are clear stand-outs), country-tinged Southern standards (Hank Williams' "House of Gold," the album's pious opening track), a traditional Hispanic gospel song (the stunning "Virgen de Guadalupe" backed by Raul Malo) and finishes with a spiritual hymn that will transport you straight to Sunday morning services ("All Creatures of Our God and King").
The beauty of Downtown Church isn't Griffin's vocals, which are near perfect and seem to have no limits, nor is it the aforementioned nine-piece band that backs her, but the spectrum of believer vs. skeptic musings that she weaves together as a single cohesive religious thought. Faith and hope are not as much Godly as they are human here, and Downtown Church is brimming with both. And it's impossible not to believe in that. Amen.
