Patty Griffin

A Maine-born singer and songwriter whose voice and plainspoken songs, from a hushed 1996 debut to a gospel record and a loud rock one, have been recorded by the Chicks, Kelly Clarkson and many others.

Origin: Old Town, Maine
Years active: 1994-present
Genres: Americana, folk, folk rock, country folk, gospel, alt-country
Labels: A&M, ATO, Credential, New West, PGM
Also known as: Patricia Jean Griffin

Maine, Boston and Austin

Patricia Jean Griffin was born on March 16, 1964 in Old Town, Maine, next to the Penobscot reservation, the last of seven children. She bought a fifty-dollar guitar at sixteen and began writing songs. After a six-year marriage ended in 1994 she played the Boston coffeehouse circuit, and A&M signed her on the strength of a demo tape. She moved to Austin, Texas in 1997.

Her debut, Living with Ghosts, came out on May 21, 1996, a stripped-down reworking of her demos. It is her best-selling record, with more than 222,000 copies sold in the United States as of January 2010 by Billboard's count. Sources disagree on its producer: her Wikipedia biography credits Nile Rodgers, while the album's own page lists Griffin.

Flaming Red, Silver Bell and the long way round

Flaming Red (June 23, 1998) was the first full-band record, produced mostly by Jay Joyce, and Griffin said she had always felt like a rock singer. After it she recorded Silver Bell in New Orleans in 2000 as the follow-up, but A&M did not release it, with accounts differing between a dispute with the label and the merger that year of A&M's parent company with Universal. She left for ATO. The record leaked and circulated as a bootleg for years; the label finally issued it, remixed by Glyn Johns, on October 8, 2013.

In 2000 she opened for the Dixie Chicks, who heard "Truth No. 2" live, and their 2002 album Home included both that song and "Top of the World". Her own records then came steadily: 1000 Kisses (2002), the live A Kiss in Time (2003), Impossible Dream (2004) and Children Running Through (2007). In 2007 the Americana Music Association named her artist of the year and the album its album of the year.

Gospel, folk and the recent work

Downtown Church (Credential, January 26, 2010) was a gospel record made in a Nashville church and won the 2011 Grammy for Best Traditional Gospel Album. She also toured as a backing singer with Robert Plant's Band of Joy in 2010. American Kid followed on New West in 2013, Servant of Love in 2015, and the self-titled Patty Griffin in 2019, on her own PGM label with Thirty Tigers, which won the Grammy for Best Folk Album. Before Sunrise (Live 1992) appeared in 2020, and Tape, assembled from home recordings found in old digital files during the pandemic, in June 2022. She received the Americana Music Association's lifetime achievement award for songwriting in 2023, and Crown of Roses, her eleventh studio album, came out on July 25, 2025 and earned a 2026 Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album.

Other singers have taken her songs. The Chicks recorded "Truth No. 2", "Top of the World" and "Let Him Fly"; Kelly Clarkson sang "Up to the Mountain" with Jeff Beck, which reached number 56 on the Hot 100, her highest chart position as a songwriter; Linda Ronstadt, Solomon Burke, Bette Midler, Miranda Lambert and Mary Chapin Carpenter have also recorded her work. Setlist.fm's most-played songs are "Shine a Different Way" (155), "Standing" (128) and "No Bad News" (123).

Records

Flaming Red 1998 · A&M
Her first record with a full band, loud where the debut was quiet.
1000 Kisses 2002 · ATO
Her first record for ATO, played live in the studio by a small, mostly acoustic band.
Impossible Dream 2004 · ATO
Her 2004 record, which carries the re-arranged "Top of the World" and ends with her parents singing a hidden track.
Silver Bell 2013 · A&M, UMe
The record she made in 2000 that sat in a drawer for thirteen years.

Songs

Top of the World Impossible Dream · 2004
A song narrated by a man who has died, first cut in 2000, recorded by the Dixie Chicks in 2002, and redone by Griffin in 2004.
Rain 1000 Kisses · 2002
The opening track of 1000 Kisses and its first radio single.
Mary Flaming Red · 1998
The twelfth track of Flaming Red, and the song she has played most of the three we hold.

Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams

Where to go next

Official

Patty Griffin The official site and store.

Reference

Patty Griffin on Wikipedia Biography, discography and awards.
Silver Bell on Wikipedia The shelved album and its tracklist.

Writing and criticism

Tape Op review of Silver Bell Recording and mixing detail.
Oxford American: Deep Cut A long piece on Fly and the Ryman show.

Interviews

KUTX: Jody Denberg talks with Patty Griffin A 2021 interview.

Live performance archives

setlist.fm: Patty Griffin Setlists and song counts.

Sources

Patty Griffin, Wikipedia
Flaming Red, Wikipedia
1000 Kisses, Wikipedia
Impossible Dream, Wikipedia
Silver Bell, Wikipedia
Silver Bell by Patty Griffin, Tape Op
Deep Cut, Oxford American