NPR Music’s ‘Songs We Love – Americana Edition’

Rhiannon Giddens, Patty Griffin And Shakey Graves – A Musical Conversation

by Ann Powers, NPR Music (photo by Joshua Shoemaker)

“I think songs can have different lives,” said Rhiannon Giddens in the conversation that flowed throughout NPR Music’s “Songs We Love: Americana Fest Edition” panel on September 16 at Nashville’s historic RCA Victor Studio A. “Each song has its own way that it likes to be done, but it can be more than one way,” the Carolina Chocolate Drops multi-instrumentalist and singer continued. “If you tap into it, you can feel it.”

Sharing tunes and conversation with fellow Americana stars Patty Griffin and Shakey Graves, Giddens embodied the mood of the festival that would unfold over the following four days. Her selections during the daytime event, spanned Tejano music, Appalachian folk and ’90s honky-tonk, illustrating the enduring truth that in a genre whose boundaries remain fluid, song craft remains the magnetic core. Griffin added to the conversation by showing how learning new things (perfecting her piano skills) and turning to old sources (re-reading James Baldwin) influenced her songwriting process on the stunning new album ‘Servant of Love.’ Graves, a spontaneous raconteur, reflected upon the many different versions his songs take as they evolve – the waltz version, the slow country one, the “I’m yelling at you!” one. At one point, he performed a beautiful, spare take on Townes Van Zandt’s “No Place to Fall” that showed how the poetry held within a song’s musical frame matters most.

CLICK to read more and LISTEN to the entire conversation/performance with Patty Griffin, Rhiannon Giddens and Shakey Graves.