December Album of the Month

I know you've all been holding your breath A) to see if I could actually have a long enough attention span to do a consistant monthly blog and B) to see what the December album of the month would be. Well, never fear, I can make good on both of these . . . for this month at least.

The December Album of the month is (drumroll please) . . . . . . . . . Patty Griffin's Impossible Dream.



It seems like I've heard Patty's name before but was never familiar with her music at all until a few months ago when Adam made me a mix with "Long Ride Home" on it. Coincidentally, just like November's album, this song was featured on the Elizabethtown soundtrack. I immediately loved it when I heard it and had to have more of this girl. Its funny now because I had this fear that whoever this amazing voice was might be a one-hit wonder and I wouldn't be able to find anything else by her! Ha! Well, I'm still learning about Patty, but apparently she is quite a staple of the folk industry and is very highly regarded by fellow musicians as both a singer and songwriter.

"More of Patty" was the only thing on my birthday list last month, so I was lucky enough to receive a trilogy of Patty albums from Adam (Tower Records is going out of business - jackpot!). Now I've learned in the past to not try to introduce too many new CD's into your life at once because you spread yourself too thin, so I picked one and am saving the other two until I am completely inundated with this one.

I decided not too long ago that if I could re-write my own life, I would be a folk singer. Sometimes I think it's not too late, but thats mostly when I'm in the shower or in the car belting to this album. Since this album, though, I've honed my vision to write myself specifically as Patty Griffin. Her voice is amazing, as is her song-writing ability.

All politics and controversy aside, I love a lot of work that the Dixie Chicks have done and was not surprised to find that two of the songs of theirs that have played on repeat on my stereo quite a few times are actually Patty Griffin covers.

I would strongly recommend this as a Christmas gift for any music lover in your life. My only disclaimer is that it is on the very mellow/border-line depressive side, so I wouldn't recommend it if you are trying to be in a happy mood!

Genre: Folk

Release Date: Spring 2004

Time of ownership: About 3.5 weeks

Songs to put on repeat: #8 - When It Don't Come Easy - I can't get past that one so its the only one I can even write about (Ok thats not entirely true - I also love #6 Kites and #9 Florida - it has a great A1A reference that always makes me think of Emily and sophomore year spring break! - but #8 is by far the best)

Friends who would like this album: Rachel - you know you love those depressing heart-wrenching ballads . . . you want it! (By the way - I still have your Garden State soundtrack that I borrowed about 2 years ago . . . whoops. My bad - I'll bring it back at Christmas!); Potentially Reba - she has a Sandra-esque sound




No, I'm not a Scrooge. I have been mingling some holiday selections in with Patty. See Adam's blog for some thoughts on the latest from everyone's favorite independent artist, Sufjan Stevens. His Christmas album just became available to the public (previously only to his fanclub). Its a great 2-disc set with some very refreshing versions of holiday favorites, including 2 versions of one of my favorites, "Lo How a Rose Ere Blooming".