[.ca] A Kiss In Time

From Amazon.com:
This live album documents a love affair, one between a singer-songwriter who attracted a whole new following with the release of 2002's 1000 Kisses and the devoted fans who flocked to her subsequent tour. The rapturous response at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, long the hallowed home of the Grand Ole Opry, makes it plain that Griffin is among friends for this concert recording, with kindred spirits Emmylou Harris and Julie and Buddy Miller joining her onstage to lend vocal support. Despite the setting, Griffin's music resists categorization as country (or folk or rock), with acoustic guitar, accordion, and piano providing exquisite settings for her expressively edgy vocals on a range of striking material--from the suicide of a tormented gay boy in "Tony" to the plight of an unhappy heiress in "Christina" (which Griffin explains to the crowd came to her in a dream about Christina Onassis) to the hint of ragtime in "Mad Mission." A bonus DVD of backstage scenes and videos completes the package, which lets fans feel they've gotten to know not only the music, but the artist. -- Don McLeese

What Can I say:
What can I say, Patty is amazing. From Living With Ghosts to A Kiss In Time, Patty never seized to amaze me. The sincerity of her lyrics and the power behind her voice makes for the best female singer/songwriter I know of. She is one of a kind that everyone should have the opportunity to get to know.

She does it once AGAIN:
Patty Griffin is probably one of the most underrated artists out there today. She's like the best kept secret for those of us who can appreciate one heck of a voice and one amazing songwriter. Look for a new album coming out late winter/early spring. Until then-enjoy the music of a true artist.

Live but Cooked:
I'm a big admirer of Patty Griffin but I liked the original versions of Tony, Mad Mission, and Rain much better than these live versions. The orginals are more personal and passionate. I used to listen to Mad Mission over and over and the live version has a very different emotional resonance. This live version of Tony is very different from the much older live version that you can hear on KCRW's program archives. One brings tears to my eyes and the other doesn't. The sweetness, agreeability and nostalgia which permeates this performance (not to mention the cloying album art and DVD) is much less appealing to me than the potent mixture of anger, sexuality, grief and passion I felt from the originals, and from much earlier live performances I saw in Texas. High volume vocals have a bootleg sound, with a penetrating extra dollop of high frequency resonance that always makes me reach for the volume control on my CD player.

I'm a wuss - she can make me cry:
I first caught wind of Patty when she opened for Lucinda Williams in the latter part of the 90's. The show was in the auditorium of an old mansion in the beautiful city of Des Moines, IA. I admit I had never heard of Patty, but when she came on stage with just a guitar and sang the most melodic and beautifully written songs I had heard in a long, long time...well, I was hooked. I went out and bought all her recordings and I have had the pleasure of enjoying her music ever since. I can't wait to hear her new album (I hear it will have her original version of Top Of The World) that comes out in April, and I hope to see her live once again. I guess this cd will have to hold me over until that time. Like all Patty fans, I enjoy all her music, especially songs as poetic and beautiful as Nobody's Cryin'. When the song gets to the part... May you dream you are dreaming, in a warm soft bed And may the voices inside you that fill you with dread Make the sound of thousands of angels instead Tonight where you might be laying your head ..I have to admit it can move me to tears. And the fact that she is not more comercially known both saddens me and makes me happy. Sad in the fact that everyone doesn't know her as a household musical name, but happy in that I can have her as virtually my little musical secret, happily doleing out her music to friends knowing I'm bringing beautiful to their ears. If that makes me selfish so be it.

Good Place to Start - Must have to Complete Collection:
I first listened to Patty Griffin when her first album came out. I was living in Texas and thought Mad Mission one of the best songs of the year. I always wondered why KGSR played only Let Him Fly (a very good song) when Mad Mission was so stunning. And the version of Mad Mission on this CD is just so much...I won't say better...but amplified and fully realized . Even the performance of \oLet Him\c Fly is better and I was quite jaded by its constant rotation on the radio in 1996. I have all her albums and cannot recommend this one enough. Her live versions amplify and enhance the studio recordings from the other albums. It doesn't hurt that you have Buddy & Julie Miller and Emmylou Harris singing and playing along, but this album would still be a fantastic showcase without them. My favorites are Goodbye, Rain, Long Road Home, Tony, Mad Mission and Fly, although there is not a "skip" on the album.

• Long Ride Home
• Goodbye
• Christina
• Peter Pan
• Rain
• Mad Mission
• Be Careful
• Tony
• Mary
• Fly
• Nobody's Cryin'
• 10 Million Miles