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VIA: New York Times

Patty Griffin’s new gospel-infused album, “Downtown Church,” celebrates what she calls the largely untapped soul of American music. But it also honors one part of a holy trinity of musicians for Ms. Griffin, a singer and songwriter who is more at home in the world of crossing genres than crossing Jordan.

Ms. Griffin’s deep respect for the Staple Singers, the family that helped bring gospel music into American living rooms, lands that group at No. 3 on her list of musical influences. “In my life it goes like this: The Beatles, Aretha Franklin and the Staple Singers,” she said recently in a telephone interview from Nashville while on the road from her home in Austin, Tex. “The Staples are that big for me.”

That respect is the driving force behind “Downtown Church,” (EMI/Credential Recordings), a 14-song compilation released Tuesday and recorded over five days in the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville. With gospel, folk and country singers ranging from the obscure to the famous, “Downtown Church” is a delicate but at times foot-stomping celebration of old-fashioned gospel — some of it straight out of the Sunday hymnal — as well as bluesy traditionals, two new songs by Ms. Griffin and one by Hank Williams at his most melancholy.

For Ms. Griffin the album is an attempt to bring mostly unknown or misunderstood music to pop fans. The rich fabric of gospel has always been intertwined with American popular music, even if the people who wrote it are somewhat forgotten or neglected, she said.

“I grew up listening to AM radio in the ’70s and hearing all of that great soul and rhythm and blues music, which definitely influenced the way I sing,” Ms. Griffin said. “But singing gospel has made me a much more humble person. There are so many people who were geniuses who only a few people knew about when they were alive. It makes me feel ashamed that I ever complained about not getting my due as a musician.”

Buddy Miller, the producer of the album, agrees that many gospel pioneers haven’t gotten their due. “A lot of this music certainly is uncredited,” Mr. Miller said from his home in Nashville. “Pop Staples is at the top of the list as far as who guitar players should be tipping their hat to. He is an unsung hero of the guitar.”

Most people know the Staples from the band’s later songs, particularly the 1972 hit “I’ll Take You There.” But Ms. Griffin is more attuned to the early recordings in the 1950s and ’60s — the blood-and-guts gospel in which the interactive aspect of the recordings is as important as the music.

“Recording in a church was my idea because of the Staples’ recordings,” Ms. Griffin said. “You can hear the feet shuffling and the page turning in those recordings. Those places are built to sing in. I didn’t want to record this in a box.”

The evolution of “Downtown Church” is even more connected to the Staples, thanks to a chance duet that Ms. Griffin sang with Mavis Staples and the Tri-City Singers in 2009 on “Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration.” She never imagined she would sing with Ms. Staples, one of the five members of the original family band.

EMI then approached Ms. Griffin about doing a gospel album. She immediately recruited Mr. Miller, a veteran musician and producer who, among other gigs, played lead guitar on the “Raising Sand” tour with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, and toured with Ms. Griffin, Emmylou Harris and Shawn Colvin on the recent “Three Girls and Their Buddy” tour.

“Downtown Church” is the seventh album for Ms. Griffin, who arrived on the music scene in 1996 with “Living With Ghosts,” a stripped-down demo of original music featuring just her and a guitar. Subsequent albums include “1000 Kisses,” which has two of her most recognizable songs, the folky “Long Ride Home” and “Making Pies.” Her “Children Running Through” album in 2007 includes “Up to the Mountain (M.L.K. Song),” a gospel-influenced track that Susan Boyle covers on her recent album, and “Heavenly Day,” which evokes a spiritual connection to a cloudless, trouble-free day.

Read more here.