Patty Griffin
Issue #34
Live From the Artists Den (ATO)
By Annie Anderson
Published: December 1st, 2007 | 2:48pm
One of the most intriguing things about singer-songwriter Patty Griffin — with stellar record after stellar record — is her pleasing stage presence. The disconnect between her heavy, haunting lyrics and her light, live banter could make for a disingenuous persona. But in Griffin's case, the diversity of emotions presented in the span of one album, or one live show, creates a universal appeal and saves her presentation from self-indulgence. This woman feels things, not in a touch-feely way but in the manner of someone who for a decade has quietly churned out brilliant, poetic collections of modern folk tales.
The DVD Patty Griffin: Live From the Artists Den, recorded earlier this year in a rehabbed synagogue on New York City's Lower East Side, lovingly captures the shy performer straddling the happy-sad divide. She fills the stage with her acoustic guitar and her powerful pipes and then graciously and demurely accepts the audience's applause.
One of the DVD's best moments comes early on, during the song "Stay on the Ride,” from Griffin's recent album Children Running Through. The way she sing-shouts, "No you won't!,” when someone threatens to give a name to her nameless narrator is spine-rattling, worthy of several rewinds and re-watches.
Griffin's mouth moves only slightly as she sings, but the depth of her vocals overwhelm and, at times, shock. If it weren't for the production team's enthusiasm for jumping between multiple camera angles during the course of one song, this DVD would be near perfect. As is — not quite a career retrospective but more of a live snapshot, with old and new songs peppered throughout — the DVD is easily a must-own for Griffin enthusiasts. The folkie who’s down-on-her-luck-and-damn-sure-gonna-sing-about-it shows up and gives us hell. And then she smiles. The Artists Den audience eats it up, and we’re right there with them.
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