Review: There's No Bad News When Kathleen Edwards and Patty Griffin Share a Stage At 92NY

There have been a handful of moments when a night of music has felt less like a concert and more like a homecoming. Kathleen Edwards and Patty Griffin at 92NY's Midsummer Musicfest was one of them.

I discovered both of these women the exact same way. Decades before algorithms did the picking. I would make pilgrimages to every music store with piles of CDs I could flip through. I’d spend hours reading song titles and studying the covers, looking for the perfect combination that sang to my soul: a woman who looked strong and emotionally vulnerable at the same time. If the titles pulled something in my chest, I coughed up my cash. That's how I found Living with Ghosts in 1996 and Failer in 2002. The method wasn't foolproof, believe me, but it found me some artists who’ve remained my favorites, including and these two legends. To see them share a bill, in a room as iconic as 92NY (where worked as an usher in 1996 when I lived at the Y as a Marymount Manhattan College Student) felt like closing a decades-long loop.

Kathleen Edwards opened, and what a stunning start to a killer double bill. It was just her and longtime collaborator Matt

Sucich. Two voices, two guitars (and a fiddle). No band, no clutter, just pure, intimate magic. She opened with Asking for Flowers, tender and piercing, her voice landing as easily as breath. Other stand outs (for me) included Glenfern, where her voice melded with the guitar and the easy and joyful FLA. "Little Red Ranger" was a stunner. Another tiny look into how Edwards sees the world. Clean, real, poetic. Their cover of Neil Young's "Comes a Time" was a true highlight. Sucich opened it beautifully, and Edwards wowed on the fiddle. On every song, her and Matt's voices locked in whether he was harmonizing or leading as he did on the start of Comes a Time. Six O'Clock News and the rich and aching Hockey Skates are proof that Edwards' true gift is specificity. She makes the smallest, most particular details universal. Save Your Soul and In State closed things out, and by the time she and Sucich took their bow, I understood what a gift finding that CD in 2002 really was.

Dear Matt, you were a true and stunning partner to Kathleen and an absolute joy to watch and hear in your own right. Bravo to you both.

Then Patty Griffin took the stage. There is no voice like hers. Not in this genre. Not in any genre. From the lowest, richest depths to ringing highs, she doesn't perform a song...she excavate it. She is something rare. Special. Perfect. And uniquely herself.

She opened with the haunting All the Way Home and from the first note the room went silent. Back at the Start followed, and she and guitarist David Pulkingham made staggeringly complex guitar work look effortless. "Long Time" was rich, unhurried, and entirely of the moment. "Standing" was gorgeous and, in this particular moment, also quite timely.

The story behind "Born in a Cage" gave it a whole new depth. The whistling was a haunting (stunning) finish. Mother of God was absolute perfection. She sung it (and all of the songs) like she was discovering them in real time. And the acoustic arrangement, just a guitar, a piano, and her, was the most magical I've ever heard it performed. Servant of Love followed, beautiful and unadorned. "I Know a Way" and "Shine a Different Way" were also stunning.

Griffin's banter was, as always, funny and insightful. The stories about her mother as  inspiration (and her mom’s feelings about it) and the memory of her first trip to New York for her sister's Barnard graduation that had nothing to do with the song that followed, made the night special and even more more personal. To me, Patty Griffin has always been a mystery, and the only way in is through her music. But honestly, is there a better path?

"The End" was another reminder that Patty Griffin is a master of songwriting and storytelling. Her ability to put language to the secrets of the heart is unmatched. But to see her do it live is the real magic.

The most heartfelt, most precious things are often the most fragile. Griffin’s voice, at times thinner than the finest glass, sounds

like it could shatter at any second, yet it never does. That's her superpower. She shares from the deepest, rawest parts with no pretense, just pure, unprotected honesty.

"Up to the Mountain" was perfect in its simplicity. But her story of the "recovering a**holes club," was a highlight and the perfect setup for "No Bad News." Patty, I’m sure your club recruited many a new member at the show. And as of this writing, I can proudly report I’m on my day three chip. One day at a time, baby.

For the encore,  A Word. Her voice was perfect in its imperfection. And I mean that as the greatest of compliments. The whispers, the richness, the searching, all of it. Simple. Clean. She never tries. She just is. And that is what has carved her a permanent place in the American songbook. And in my heart.

Massive kudos to David Pulkingham, who is a true guitar wizard, and Michael Longoria, whose percussion was subtle when it needed to be, propulsive when the songs demanded it, and a masterclass of its own (and a genuine pleasure to watch).

I'll end with this.

Kathleen and Patty,
Thank you for the CDs I bought on a hunch decades ago and all those that followed. Thank you for the concerts, particularly this past one that made all those hours flipping through jewel cases feel like fate. Here’s to more decades of music from both of you.
With love and gratitude,
Nathan

PS Patty. Of all your songs that play on repeat in my heart, "You Never Asked Me" is one I’ve not had the gift of hearing live. If I had a wish list for the future, that would be it.

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To learn more about Patty Griffin, visit her website. To learn more about Kathleen Edwards, click here. For more on the programming at 92NY, tap here.

Photos: Joe Sinnott

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