Singer Patty Griffin turns to gospel music tradition

Singer/songwriter Patty Griffin grew up in the Catholic Church and wasn't really exposed to Southern gospel music.

But nearly a decade ago, she started getting into the inspirational works of the Staple Singers.

"I found when I listened to them, it made me really happy," Griffin said during a phone interview from her home in Austin, Texas. "So I became a die-hard Staple Singers fan."

Griffin's love for the Staple Singers got her a gig singing a duet with Mavis Staples on "Waiting for My Child to Come Home," on the 2009 gospel tribute album "Oh, Happy Day."

"I almost didn't do it because (Mavis) was such a master," Griffin said. "But I had to meet her and went ahead and did it."

The song caught the attention of EMI Records executive Peter York.

"He asked if I would consider doing a gospel record," said Griffin. "I thought it would be a really good project because I would have to do some learning."

The project, called "Downtown Church," became Griffin's seventh studio album.

Not only did Griffin have to learn how to sing gospel, she also had to learn how to reconcile her personal feelings to what she would be conveying in the songs.

"I consider myself to be a lapsed Catholic," she said. "Growing up, I didn't see women having equal time (in the church), and the patriarchal terminology was kind of hard to understand.

"(Recording the CD), I had to struggle with the language because a lot of the words were written in a certain language.

"I had to let go of my prejudices to sing these songs right."

Griffin confessed that she actually asked her producer, Buddy Miller, if she could rewrite the lyrics to "All Creatures of Our God and King."

"Buddy said, 'No way,' " Griffin said with a laugh. "That song is supposedly a direct translation of the St. Francis text. You wouldn't want to mess with the language, because they're the words he chose. And it's really emotion that he was trying to convey, which goes back to something I know really well.

"But it was scary to sing that way," she said. "I feel that somehow or another, I've made peace with the language on it."