Patty Larkin: 25

25
Patty Larkin has always been her own woman when it comes to songwriting, creating music that might sound like an old folk song, or a new Latin beat, or a jazz riff, or a pop ballad, or a thoughtful contemporary songwriter piece. She’s also a top notch performer, by turns funny, intense, powerful, and soulful, a brilliant guitarist and a singer always in service of song and idea.

One of the things Larkin did early in her career was play music on the streets around Harvard Square. “You have to catch people’s interest,” she said, “or they move on.” There’s a bit of that ever changing, ever engaging street player idea lingering through the tracks of 25. She lives these days at the edge of the sea on Cape Cod. There's a bit of the ever changing nature of living by the waters present here, as well.

It’s a double CD, with 25 tracks, and it’s the way Larkin chose to mark twenty five years of recording. She picked out songs from across the range of her musical history, well known ones and lesser known ones too. After recording her own singing and guitar, she sent each track out ot one of twenty five friends she had invited to contribute however they wished to the song. Those she invited include Martin Sexton, Greg Brown, Rosanne Cash, Chris Smither, and Jennifer Kimball.

What emerges is, to borrow the words of another songwriter, a festival of friends. “Twenty five years, twenty five love songs, twenty five friends,” says Larkin, and it is, at the core, just that: all the celebrations, questions, changes, and understandings that come along with love explored through words and music and friendship. Notable tracks include Coming Up for Air with Jennifer Kimball and Good Thing with Dar Williams, but there’s a lot to explore here. Take your time..


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the festival of friends idea is Carrie Newcomer’s
Music Road: Carrie Newcomer: faith and laughter

Music Road: Tish Hinojosa: Aquella Noche

a selection of recommended songwriter cds