Patty Griffin is packing up to hit the road once again this spring/summer in support of her highly acclaimed 2013 releases: American Kid (New West) and the long lost album, Silver Bell (Universal). Kicking off in Franklin, Tennessee at the Cross County Lines Festival on May 31, the tour goes through June 20, where she’ll perform in Toronto, Ontario at the Winter Garden. The full list of dates is below.
American Kid (New West), co-produced by Griffin and Craig Ross, is her seventh and first for New West. It is her first album of mainly new material since the acclaimed Children Running Through in 2007. In between then and now, she made the Grammy Award-winning Downtown Church in 2010 and became a member of Band of Joy alongside Robert Plant.
The record received stellar reviews. The New York Times said, “Elements of her father’s life story float through the lyrics, but they lead to broader sorrows and mysteries,” while Rolling Stonehailed, “her writing remains as surprising as it is masterful.” The NPR music staff voted the record one of the best albums of the year so far saying, “American Kid taps into gospel, country, the Irish waltz and torch song. But Griffin centers everything on her gift for uplift and her equally powerful emotional clarity.”
The sought-after Silver Bell was recorded in the year 2000 and never came out due to her first label A&M’s turn-of-the-century ownership change. Despite its 13 years of limbo, the record spawned two huge hits for the Dixie Chicks, who covered both “Top Of The World” and “Truth #2” for their six-million-selling 2002 Home album. In addition, the band’s Natalie Maines recorded Silver Bell’s title track for her recent solo debut, Mother. The record features 14 original songs recorded at Daniel Lanois’ Kingsway Studio in New Orleans.
Parker Millsap will open for Griffin on the tour. Millsap released his self-titled debut album in January 2014. Ann Powers of NPR said, “This guy can yodel, he can sing a soul song for real, he can preach and he wiggles his leg like Elvis. A star in the making.”
The complete list of tour dates is below:
5/31 – Franklin, TN – Cross County Lines Festival
6/1 – Charleston, WV – Mountain Stage
6/2 – Charlotte, NC – Neighborhood Theater
6/3 – Washington, DC – Lincoln Theater
6/5 – New York, NY – Town Hall
6/7 – Tarrytown, NY – Tarrytown Music Hall
6/8 – Philadelphia, PA – World Café Live
6/10 – Boston, MA – House Of Blues
6/11 – Albany, NY – The Egg
6/13 – Lebanon, NH – Opera House
6/14 – Burlington, VT – Flynn Center
6/15 – Portland, ME – State Theater
6/17 – Northampton, MA – Calvin Theater
6/19 – Montreal, QUE – Corona Theater
6/20 – Toronto, ONT – Winter Garden
