Patty Griffin - Living With Ghosts
This was a difficult review to write. Not for any other reason than I become incredibly emotional when I listen to this album. In many ways, from front to back, beginning to end, Patty Griffin’s debut album is the most beautiful piece of music I have ever heard. This is one woman and one guitar. That’s it. You really need passion and fearlessness to cause such a deep, lasting impression on listeners when you are stripped down to the bone. Just you, your guitar and your voice. Come along for the ride with me.
Patty’s first album, Living with Ghosts was released in May 1996 by A&M Records. Before recording this album, Patty moved from her home state of Maine down to Boston, MA. For years, she played small coffee shops, void of a focus on becoming famous or even of becoming a professional musician. She just wanted to write and play.
She was approached one night by a representative of A&M records, and the rest is history. While Patty’s 10 studio albums have been a mixture of country, folk and gospel music, I classify Living with Ghosts as folk. Although Patty does have a slight country resonance to her voice, I would not call it a “twang”. On this album, there is no backing band. Griffin’s ability to cut right through your soul with her voice is utterly amazing. When I first heard this album in 2000, I was floored. It became an instant addition to my collection.
Interestingly enough, as Patty’s career took off, she was invited to join Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant’s solo group, Band of Joy, in 2010 as a backing vocalist. They toured the United States that year after which Griffin and Plant reportedly developed a long romantic relationship, living together for several years. The two parted ways in 2014. Despite many rumors Griffin and Plant were married, both denied any validity to that story.
Getting back to the difficulty with writing this review; Living with Ghosts is a very emotional album. Griffin’s lyrics are poetic and mystical, but you feel every word pouring out of her. In Poor Man’s House, you can feel her pain, or the pain of someone who has grown up in a completely different world than you, fighting day after day for a meal and praying that they will make it to the next day. This was overwhelming when I first heard it. I instantly became aware of how lucky I was to be alive and have a caring family that was able to provide shelter and food for me.
The album opens with Moses, a simply put together song instrumentally, like a Dylan song, but with lyrics that wake you up and make you pay attention (also like a Dylan song). I can remember learning this song and playing it on guitar in bars around Boston. One of my fondest memories was looking up at the audience and seeing people with their eyes closed, listening to Griffin’s words that I was singing. Of course, there is always a chance they could have fallen asleep! But I like to think they were being transported to that “mental heaven” place where I liked to go.
Griffin begins each track singing sweetly, softly into her microphone. She strums careful, delicate chords that release a comfortable sound from her acoustic guitar. By each song’s end, she is strumming so eagerly and aggressively, it is almost part of her art that the strings soon sound out of tune. Her voice echoes as she sings louder and louder. If you were not paying attention before, you are now.
Songs such as Let Him Fly reflect Patty’s heartbreak after her divorce in 1994. She is searching for answers and becomes comfortable with never really knowing them. There are several references to her father throughout the album, but in several ways, told through the third person. In Every Little Bit, Patty follows a similar formula throughout her album; a soft beginning followed by an uppercut to the chin knocking you back, against the wall.
Well, pick yourself up off the floor because you must hear the rest of this!
When Griffin completed the recording and mixing of “Ghosts”, her record label thought it sounded “overproduced”. So, after careful contemplation, Griffin and producer, Nile Rogers stripped everything down. They felt confident the record company and the public would be moved emotionally by Griffin’s country-fused, sweet, gruffy singing voice and lone acoustic guitar. No frills. No where for a musician to hide. Show us what you got!
Living with Ghosts continues with knockout punches like, Mad Mission, Forgiveness, and You Never Get What You Want. I always picture a dark room with no one present except for Patty, sitting on a stool with her guitar and a small white light softly shining on her. As she sings, I become paralyzed. I do not blink for five minutes and am struck by her presence.
Perhaps the album’s strongest tracks are the last two. Actually, strike that, they ARE the strongest. This is a tall order because the album has north of seven or eight heavy hitters. But Sweet Lorraine and Not Alone epitomize beauty. Again, this is one woman, no backing band and one acoustic guitar. Patty’s acoustic sound on both songs is a voice in its own.
Sweet Lorraine was played for me in 2000 in a structured setting. A friend wanted to witness his gotcha moment and see that look on my face as I listen to a masterpiece for the first time. To explain in more detail, in my circle of friends growing up, we were obsessed with finding new music and sharing it with each other. But the share was more of a “you gotta listen to this” situation. The share usually resulted in an, “Oh my, this is an amazing song” moment that makes your hair stand up and your pupils dilate. There were few things closer to comedy than watching your best friends sit speechless as you laugh. We would follow up their reaction with either a, “RIGHT? RIGHT?” or an “I TOLD YOU!”.
In Sweet Lorraine, Griffin sings about a young woman who “came from a long line of drinkers and dreamers”. Unsure whether she is singing about herself or a character, Griffin’s lyrics become quite shocking as she continues to sing about Lorraine’s parents and how they treated her. That they never really wanted her to begin with. Lorraine picks herself up, dusts herself off, leaves home and “carves out a little life of her own”. Whether you like Griffin’s lyrics right away as I did, or are just affected by the guitar chords, Sweet Lorraine belongs in the pantheon of songs.
Just as you are catching your breath, the album’s final track, Not Alone comes into your ear canal. Warning: this song is extremely beautiful but filled with sadness. It is clear in Not Alone, Griffin is writing about death. However, she is focusing on the characteristics that one must understand in order to become at peace with losing someone. Her lyrics, “Nothing really matters in the end you know. All the worries sever. Don’t be afraid for me my friend. One day we all fall down forever” are sung from the perspective of the deceased. These were such fascinating words to me when I first heard them. I recently lost my mother. This song has an even deeper meaning now than it ever did. As I have mentioned in past reviews, the terms “comfort” and “blanket” come to mind frequently when I hear these songs and think of my mom. These words have a lasting affect on me. I only invite you to experience the same. Perhaps it may be too difficult for some of you. I understand. There is a time and a place. I typically do not listen to this album before a workout! But when life pulls its little tricks on you, and tests your faith and belief in yourself, my hope is you may attempt to listen to some of the music I review. Patty’s lyrics from Not Alone speak to me in a different way today than they did twenty years ago. As I hear, “Put out the fire in your head, and lay with me tonight”, I feel the sunlight on my face. I feel the future is bright. I hear my mom telling me not to worry. I hear her message loud and clear. I hope this album has the same positive effect on you one day.
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