I bought a beautiful skirt from a store in Chicago for about $60 on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s long with patches of green, gray, and turquoise (think flower power) and has been sitting in my closet unworn for months. I was waiting for the perfect occasion and didn’t feel like my normal work week merited the debut of such a piece. It’s the kind of skirt that you’re supposed to wear without shoes, on a balmy evening in a place where picnic baskets litter the grass.

Last night was the perfect night for it. Patty Griffin was playing at the Denver Botanical Gardens.

She has been described as a “songwriters’ songwriter” and is able to claim that the likes of Dave Matthews consider themselves her fans. Hearing her play in the middle of rose gardens and underneath perfect trees with thousands of little glittering white lights made me understand why the best of the best consider her an icon. As she sang “Burgundy Shoes,” I felt the same sort of tingling feeling that Elvis’s first fans might have experienced when he was still undiscovered. I kept picturing myself at the prison where Johnny Cash played, being as enthralled as those inmates were to hear such honest words.

Patty is tiny, too. Even with 4 inch red heels, she was dwarfed by the rest of her band. Her hair was purple/red and she wore it wild. And she has the most beautiful old face. Some just starting and other deep wrinkles highlight her frowns and smiles and prove that her songs were inspired by her own hard experiences.

And it seems that hard experiences are what she writes about most. Patty Griffin’s lyrics feel sad and the music that serves as a backdrop is haunting. Her songs are exposing and sung with a rich old voice that seems out of place coming from such a pixie.

It was one of the best shows I’ve seen all summer.

I spent 30 minutes before the show walking through the gardens and spun around at least twice in my new skirt. (I almost didn’t wear it! I walked out of my house in cut-off shorts and a tank top and decided at the last minute that Patty Griffin was reason enough to break out the new duds.)

Posted August 1st, 2007 by Leora in music |