Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Downtown Church

I've loved Patty Griffin since 1996's Living With Ghosts, where she premiered a voice that could purr and whisper and insinuate on its own successful terms, but rose to quick, sharp stabs, as if the singer was testing her pain threshold against her own internal front burner.

She's cleaned up on other folks covering her songs (Bette Midler, Jessica Simpson, Joan Osborne) but suffered canceled albums and record-company shuffles over the years. She stands, most of the time, at that mystical nexus where rock meets pop meets country meets the amorphous commodity of the "coffeehouse singer." And as the world's greatest coffeehouse singer, she turns any song she sings into any style she pleases — though she usually pleases to stay stuck between styles, blending streams into singular rivers. But her songs never sound like mutants. They sound like children.

She just joined Robert Plant's Band of Joy and I'm hoping that if you buy a ticket, you'll find Downtown Church and her other records at that merch table. I can't get with Christianity, but I love the pining of the music, savor the visions ("We Shall All Be Reunited"), even if I can't, finally, swallow them; and shiver, like the Hades-obsessed boy I once was, at visions of sinful lives paid for in fire.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Griffin isn't much for damnation, though, once she's laid down Hank Sr.'s "House of Gold." Not that the light of faith shines always gently: when Samson tears the temple down in "If I Had My Way," you hear Griffin's hot spots again, nearly matched by Regina and Ann McCrary. Guest stars wander in and out but keep clear of variety-show stiffness. Black and white, old and young, children of all ages find just right way to testify. The world's gonna have to get more like this, to deliver real salvation.

  • Album: Downtown Church (2010)
  • Artist: Patty Griffin
  • Label: Credential Recordings
  • Songs: (1) House Of Gold (2) Move Up (3) Little Fire (4) Death's Got a Warrant (5) If I Had My Way (6) Coming Home to Me (7) Wade in the Water (8) Never Grow Old (9) Virgen de Guadalupe (10) I Smell a Rat (11) Waiting for My Child (12) The Strange Man (13) We Shall Be Reunited (14) All Creatures of Our God and King

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

In-n-Out alters iconic symbol to reflect “modern-day California”

Keep Palm and Carry On?

I've loved Patty Griffin since 1996's Living With Ghosts, where she premiered a voice that could purr and whisper and insinuate on its own successful terms, but rose to quick, sharp stabs, as if the singer was testing her pain threshold against her own internal front burner.

She's cleaned up on other folks covering her songs (Bette Midler, Jessica Simpson, Joan Osborne) but suffered canceled albums and record-company shuffles over the years. She stands, most of the time, at that mystical nexus where rock meets pop meets country meets the amorphous commodity of the "coffeehouse singer." And as the world's greatest coffeehouse singer, she turns any song she sings into any style she pleases — though she usually pleases to stay stuck between styles, blending streams into singular rivers. But her songs never sound like mutants. They sound like children.

She just joined Robert Plant's Band of Joy and I'm hoping that if you buy a ticket, you'll find Downtown Church and her other records at that merch table. I can't get with Christianity, but I love the pining of the music, savor the visions ("We Shall All Be Reunited"), even if I can't, finally, swallow them; and shiver, like the Hades-obsessed boy I once was, at visions of sinful lives paid for in fire.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Griffin isn't much for damnation, though, once she's laid down Hank Sr.'s "House of Gold." Not that the light of faith shines always gently: when Samson tears the temple down in "If I Had My Way," you hear Griffin's hot spots again, nearly matched by Regina and Ann McCrary. Guest stars wander in and out but keep clear of variety-show stiffness. Black and white, old and young, children of all ages find just right way to testify. The world's gonna have to get more like this, to deliver real salvation.

  • Album: Downtown Church (2010)
  • Artist: Patty Griffin
  • Label: Credential Recordings
  • Songs: (1) House Of Gold (2) Move Up (3) Little Fire (4) Death's Got a Warrant (5) If I Had My Way (6) Coming Home to Me (7) Wade in the Water (8) Never Grow Old (9) Virgen de Guadalupe (10) I Smell a Rat (11) Waiting for My Child (12) The Strange Man (13) We Shall Be Reunited (14) All Creatures of Our God and King
Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Second largest yellowfin tuna caught by rod and reel

Excel does it again
Next Article

Spa-Like Facial Treatment From Home - This Red Light Therapy Mask Makes It Possible

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader