Patty Griffin: "Ohio" (feat. Robert Plant)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I love Patty Griffin. I really do.

Ever since I first heard her 1996 debut album, Living With Ghosts, and specifically "Forgiveness," still perhaps her finest song, a standout even on that wonderful album.

Some of her more recent work -- as she has shifted to a more twangy and traditional rootsy sound, if still within the folk/Americana genre -- hasn't exactly been my taste, notably 2010's Downtown Church, for which she won her only Grammy thus far for Best Traditional Gospel Album, but she continues to be a remarkable singer-songwriter.

I prefer the stripped-down Living With Ghosts and the rather more commercial Flaming Red (1998), her second studio album, amazing from start to finish, but her three other albums before Downtown Church were all very good: 1000 Kisses (2002), with "Rain"; Imposible Dream (2004), with the powerfully moving "Top of the World" (covered by the Dixie Chicks on their 2002 album, Home); and Children Running Through (2007), with "Burgundy Shoes." And then there's her great 2003 live album, A Kiss in Time, as well as a Live from the Artists Den release from 2008.

(This is all a long way from the classic rock and post-prog stuff that I listen to most, but my musical tastes don't begin and end with Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree.)

Griffin's seventh studio album, American Kid, was released earlier this month. While like her other recent albums it's a bit too traditional and countryish in places for my liking, it's extremely beautiful. And its peak, in my view, is "Ohio," with Robert Plant, her long-time collaborator and partner, singing backup. It's another great Patty Griffin song, from another lovely Patty Griffin album. Here's the video. Enjoy!