SONG OF THE DAY

“Kite” by Patty Griffin (Impossible Dream, ATO Records, 2004). Written by Patty Griffin.

MY TAKE

The piano that opens this song is just so sad. I can’t find any more poignant or dramatic words to describe it beyond that, so I have to just leave it to you to hear it and know too that immense sadness felt as soon as the song opens. It really overwhelms.

And then her voice begins, and it’s vulnerable, it’s familiar and you trust it.

And the lyrics describe this vision of kites flying above the sadness, above the troubles— it’s powerful, but devastating.

It’s a good song to get lost in with a paintbrush in hand. It’s a good sad to play when rain makes the day gray and streaked. It’s a good song to put on repeat to put yourself into a mood if you’re lacking the ability to muster up the creative juices. Use it wisely, friends.

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– Patty Griffin, born Patricia Jean Griffin, March 16, 1964, is an American singer-songwriter and musician.

– She is especially known for her down-home crafting of songs and her connection to musicians including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, 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 was also 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.

– 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 A&M thought it to be overproduced, so Nile Rodgers and A&M instead released a stripped-down reworking of her demo tape, as an album called Living with Ghosts.

– Griffin’s sophomore album, 1998’s Flaming Red was a departure from the acoustic sound of Living with Ghosts, with a mix of mellow songs along with other, very high tempo rock and roll songs that border on a new wave sound.

– Her third record, Silver Bell had a similar sound to its predecessor, though it was also unreleased by A&M. A&M dropped Griffin’s contract after Silver Bell, but she was picked up by Dave Matthews’ ATO Records. Griffin re-recorded songs from that album for later releases such as “Making Pies”, “Mother of God,” “Standing,” and “Top of the World” and others have been most famously covered by the Dixie Chicks. Copies of the unreleased Silver Bell were leaked and bootlegged, and can now be easily acquired via the “B&P” (Blanks and Postage) method on message boards.

– Four albums have followed so far on ATO, including 2002’s 1000 Kisses, A Kiss in Time (2003), Impossible Dream (2004), Children Running Through (2007),

– In 2004, Griffin toured with Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings as the Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue.

– 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 Nielsen Chapman and Dixie Chicks (“Mary”), Mary Chapin Carpenter (“Dear Old Friend”), Jessica Simpson (“Let Him Fly”), Martina McBride (“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 guitar, accompanied by some orchestration 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.)

– In September 2008, Griffin was featured on the album Simple Times by indie artist Joshua Radin, duetting on the song “You Got Growing Up to Do.”

– In October 2008, she appeared in background vocals on Todd Snider’s cover of John Fogerty’s “Fortunate Son” for Snider’s Peace Queer album.

– In February 2009, Griffin was featured on the album Feel That Fire by Dierks Bentley, duetting on the song “Beautiful World”.

– In 2009, Patty Griffin, along with Mavis Staples and The Tri-City Singers released a version of the song “Waiting For My Child to Come Home” on the compilation album Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration.

– The collaboration with Staples led EMI’s Peter York to suggest Griffin make an album of gospel songs. Griffin agreed on the condition that friend and bandmate Buddy Miller produced the record. Griffin’s sixth studio album, Downtown Church, was recorded at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville and was released on January 26, 2010. The album features long-time friends Buddy and Julie Miller, as well as Shawn Colvin and Emmylou Harris. It features songs by Hank Williams, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, and “All Creatures of Our God and King,” a song accredited to St. Francis of Assisi.

– In July 2010, Robert Plant will tour the United States with the band Band of Joy (reprising the name of his very first band in the 1960s). Patty Griffin, who shares many of the same influences as Plant, and has agreed to serve as vocalist, and will be joined by Plant, singer-guitarist Buddy Miller, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Darrell Scott, bassist-vocalist Byron House, and drummer-percussionist-vocalist Marco Giovino.

– 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” and a cover of “Moon River” by Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini.

– 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.

- On June 13, 2008 Griffin performed an acoustic in the round set in Nashville, Tennessee with Kris Kristofferson and Randy Owen (from the band Alabama) for a special taping of a PBS songwriters series to be aired in December 2008. Each performer played five songs. In Griffin’s case, it features “Making Pies,” “No Bad News,” “Up to the Mountain,” and “Mary.”

– Impossible Dream is Patty Griffin’s fifth commercially released album, and fourth studio album. It was released on April 20, 2004.

– The album features an unlisted song – Griffin’s mother and father singing “The Impossible Dream” – at the end of “Top of the World.” <—-LOVE THIS LITTLE EASTER EGG!!

– Impossible Dream reached a peak of number 67 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 16,000 copies in the United States in its first week. The album notably features Patty Griffin on vocals, guitar, piano, Emmylou Harris as background vocals, and Lisa Germano on violin, zither, among other artists.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

The video options for this song on youtube.com were heinously crappy. The first one I found starts with some off-topic anime footage and some other piano song…bizarre. The only other video I found on youtube was a dedication to the troops and Bush and war and the American flag for chrissakes, and I just could NOT handle the song being used in that way, so I chose to present no video today today. Here’s the link to iLike, where you can hear the full audio version of the song. (When I click the link it only gives me a 30 second preview, but I think that’s because you’re only allowed to stream the full audio of a given song one time, and I used my time up on this song already—hope this link gives you full access at least once, otherwise you have to check out the terrible youtube videos).