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The final number is “All Creatures of Our God and King”, a traditional hymn sung with piano only, and it showcases Griffin’s voice at its most pure, a fitting and mesmerizing end to an album that, regardless of one’s belief, is an uplifting, moving, and exquisite listening experience.
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Though heartfelt, Downtown Church comes off as a little generic at times, landing squarely in the well-stocked category of “tasteful, intelligent, unruffled roots music.” But the Griffin-penned “Little Fire” and “Coming Home To Me”--both of which deal with the power of faith from multiple angles--frame the rest of the songs elegantly, while conveying her wariness
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It's no surprise that Downtown Church is a beautiful album, as Patty Griffin has been making beautiful albums since 1996, but here she's reaching for something deeper than she has on much her previous work, and the search that informed these 14 songs is compelling and joyous to hear, regardless of your religious convictions.
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Patty Griffin has got religion, or at least the urge to sing about it, on her transcendent new gospel record. When she bends her raspy, gale-force voice to the task, it sounds as if she was born to do it.
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Fortunately for Griffin, the album boasts perhaps her finest performances to date, making Church an essential addition to her rich catalogue and a rewarding step in her ongoing emergence as more than just a go-to writer.
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Downtown Church is full of astonishing songs.
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Griffin could have skated on the success of her last effort, but Downtown Church is a gutsy move, one that's as haunting and original as anything in her past.
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There’s something about Griffin’s trilling pipes ricocheting through this vast and timeworn sanctuary that paints the album in an otherworldly, eternal hue as she dips deeply into gospel traditions.