Patty Griffin always seems to find a way to carry on. She’s faced her share of hardship, having recovered from breast cancer and then lost her voice due to radiation treatment. As the youngest of seven children, she had a volatile relationship with her mother. So much so that when she went home to Maine to be with her mother after the death of her father, her mom’s reaction was, “Oh man it’s Patty? Anybody but Patty!” Over time they were able to find peace, so much so that Crown of Roses features a painting of her mother on her wedding day.
While her relationship with mother influenced the new album, it’s just one of many. In some ways the album reflects everything that went before. The rhythmic pulse of the bass opens ‘Back at the Start’ as an electric guitar spits out a descending riff. She opens the song with startling honesty, “There’s secrets I don’t tell ever to myself/ I just keep moving.” Using metaphors from baseball, she finds a kind of safety in the outfield, especially as she realises that no matter how bad things get it isn’t the end, because over and over again “you’re just back at the start.”
Revisiting the past, ‘Long Time’ has a countrified Zeppelin feel with Robert Plant’s vocals deep in the mix. Rather than recalling their days together in Band of Joy, it feels more akin to the current edition of Plant’s band. The spare arrangement, with rumbles of acoustic bass merging with a lonely acoustic guitar only add to the mysterious lyrics. Staring into space never sounded quite so dangerous.
Saying farewell to her mom on ‘Way Up to the Sky’ all Griffin needs is her acoustic guitar. Packed with emotion, it recounts the days in a life where everyone eventually leaves home. The song is filled with sadness, along with a sense of release, when the end finally comes. The pain is over, both the physical and the mental that comes from memories, those fulfilled and those unfulfilled.
There’s a sense of comfort to the gentle guitar of ‘A Word’ that closes the album. Offering a sense of hope combined with the notes of a single violin she offers thoughts from the Bible, “And I read the last will be the first/ the love you leave on earth goes round forever.” Ending on such a positive note, redeems an album that spends much of its time looking for answers where there aren’t always any to be found.
Patty Griffin’s Crown of Roses is a reminder that even in the worst of times hope can still be found. It may not be easy to find, and it may be difficult to hold on to, but it’s out there. Griffin may not always know the pathways but her music and her muse help us on our way.