Patty Griffin - A Kiss in Time

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 Amazon.com

Excellent Work

Patty's voice is wonderful live, so this is a great collection of her intelligent writing and beautiful vocals. Many of the songs played live sound so much better esp the instruments backing her up. Hearing live drums verses drum kits on songs from Flaming Red, like Mary, Tony, etc makes them so much more rich and enjoyable to listen to. Highly recomend. May 24, 2007

Excellent CD

This CD was recorded on the tour for the "1,000 Kisses" album. Songs from "Flaming Red" and "Living with Ghosts" are also included. I am a huge fan of her work and I am normally wary of "live" recordings. "A Kiss in Time" is solid, start to finish. If you are a fan of her work, I highly recommend this CD. If you are unfamiliar with her work, this would be an excellent place to start appreciating her amazing talent. July 23, 2006

Patty Griffin live - A Kiss In Time

Why Patti Griffin is not known to every adult in america is a mystery. Why I don't hear her on my radio is confounding. She is the Dylan of this age (her voice a delicate directed whisper one moment, and pealing the paint off the walls in another). Her devastating honesty and intensity confirm faith in the capacity for human expression to attain ethereal majesty. She exposes that inalienable connection we have to a universal truth in speaking directly to the soul. Her songs sear images into my being with a paintbrush of my own experience.
Buy this as an introduction to her other five cd's. You will very likely buy them all. February 23, 2006

Thanks United Airlines!

Yes, I have to admit that I first heard this album while flying back and forth between NYC and San Francisco earlier this year, as part of United's in-air music programming. Well, let me say that somebody there is doing their job well.

I'd been curious about Patty Griffin's music before that, as I'd seen that she'd written some good songs used by the Dixie Chicks (FUTK), like "Let Him Fly" and "Truth No. 2." But I hadn't heard her own voice or playing until those flights, and am happy to say that I've not stopped listening to this album since.

This collection covers a lot of territory, presenting songs from most (if not all) of her albums, and has a very bittersweet tone overall. Griffin's humble personality is very apparent when she introduces some of the songs and expresses her gratitude to some special guest musicians. The production is one of the better I've heard on a live album in a while, and effectively seems to capture the feel of seeing the show inside the Ryman.

I'd recommend this as an excellent place to start for someone just getting into Patty Griffin's music. The accompanying DVD is also worth having, as it features a series of interviews with Griffin about her music and a couple of music videos. July 22, 2004

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. June 20, 2004

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