A Conversation with Patty Griffin (continued)

PM: Is there anything about yourself or your art that you'd like fans to know about you that they may not at all be aware of?

PG: [laughs]

PM: That might be a weird question.

PG: Oh, that's not such an easy question to answer.

[laughter]

PG: Oh, man, no, I don't know. God bless them for paying attention at all. I don't need them to know anything else. [laughs]

PM: Are you what you'd call a spiritual person?

PG: I guess--I think everybody is. Actively or otherwise, everybody’s got to deal with that.

PM: Well, I certainly agree with that, although I'm surprised at the number of artists who say, "No, no, not particularly."

Do you make much time in your schedule for reading? Is that a big part of your life?

PG: It is. I like to read.

PM: Anything lately that turned you on?

PG: I have to preface this by saying that I've boycotted white male American authors from the twentieth century. In my school reading list, a given sexist author that I had to read made me mad, while others I wanted to read were regarded as too racy. I thought later, "I'm just going to read Russians and African Americans and women, and forget you guys." I didn't actually read very much at all in my twenties, so that wasn't a big deal to boycott them. But I picked it back up in my late twenties and thirties, and now I'm a pretty big reader.

And I decided to read Hemingway this past year, who's a big macho writer. And I fell in love with it. Gertrude Stein is credited with inspiring his style, but I think his style is very, very much his voice. It really helped me a lot, too, in writing myself, just using the minimum to say a lot. It's really beautiful. I've felt very, very moved by him just telling a story line in the most simple way, without suggesting an emotion. You know what I mean? He just kind of tells you the story and lets you figure it out, and I think that’s really powerful.

PM: Wow. Are your best friends musicians, or other kinds of artists, or not necessarily arty types?

PG: [laughs] Most people I know are somewhat artistic, I think. I’m lucky to have a family full of people good at math and science and things like that. So I'm not completely without those influences in my life.

PM: Is there anything at all on the television you like, either seriously, or as a guilty pleasure?

PG: Actually, when I'm home, I don't watch TV very much--I try not to, because I end up sitting in front of it for several hours when I could be doing something else.

PM: Right.

PG: So, no, I can't really say I have anything favorite. I love YouTube. [laughs]

PM: That's interesting. Who's Imelda Martin, to whom the album is dedicated?

PG: That's my grandmother who just passed away.

PM: Oh, I'm sorry.

PG: She was ninety-nine. She had a good run. [laughs]

PM: So you've done so many amazing things already. Are there things you want to do or people you want to work with that still lie ahead?

PG: My favorite part of everything I do is kind of digging in and growing, so you can feel it happening in your body. And I think the work that I do helps me to do that, as a person. I'm really lucky that I have something that so directly does that, in such an obvious way. It's kind of a selfish job to have. But that's what I'm looking for. And I don't know how that's going to show up in the next half of my life.

PM: Well, it might feel selfish sometimes, but you're one of those artists who really is giving a lot of herself to the people who are listening. I really appreciate what you're doing. And I know what the readership really does, too.

PG: Thanks, Frank.

PM: Yeah. So it's very nice to meet you, Patty, and I hope to--

PG: Nice to meet you as well.

PM: --run into you in Nashville sometime. I wish you all the best with this new record, Children Running Through.

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	photo thanks:
	Traci Goudie*
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* designer note: I'm a fan of Traci Goudie's photography and design work--she's the artist responsible for the distinctive look of Patty Griffin's CD packaging, starting with the 1000 Kisses album--so I am delighted that we get to feature her photos with this interview. When I think of Patty Griffin, of course I think of the voice and the songs, but I also immediately picture the lovely, eccentric, outside-of-time style of Traci Goudie's photos, collages, and cover graphics. You can see more of what Traci does by visiting tracigoudie.com. (One does get the feeling that something is going on in Austin...)