Patty Griffin @ Warner Theater

Patty Griffin
With Scott Miller
April 17, 2007
Warner Theater, Washington, D.C.

Whether or not it was intended, Patty Griffin's opening song at Warner Theater on Tuesday night established a theme for the show. And I didn't understand a word of it.

Sitting alone at the piano, Griffin started with "an old French hymn my grandmother used to sing." My two years of high school French are long forgotten, but a search on the Internet suggests that the song is titled "J'irai La Vour Un Jour." I still don't know what it means, and it still doesn't matter.

Griffin's enchanting, romantic and breathy delivery of this childhood memory powerfully made the point that words are only one part of a performance. Griffin and her crack band – Doug Lancio on lead guitar; Michael Longoria on percussion; Bryn Davies on upright bass, cello, piano and backing vocals; and Frank Swart on electric bass and guitar – illustrated throughout the night that much of the emotion in music is derived from the way it sounds. This versatile group proved itself adept at playing what the song called for, whether it was country, gospel, R&B, roadhouse blues or layered, atmospheric, reverb-soaked soundscapes that resembled U2 more than any of the singer-songwriters or Americana artists with whom Griffin normally is associated.

Griffin stayed on the piano for a solo version of the unreleased "First Star" before being joined by the band for the third song. They immediately settled into a smoky, late-night feel on "Get Yourself Another Fool," a treatment consistent with Sam Cooke's on his "Night Beat" album.

Davies, who has played with Peter Rowan, Tony Rice and Guy Clark among others, got a chance to display her versatility early in the set. She switched to piano for "Stay on the Ride," sang harmony on "Trapeze" (a role that was filled by Emmylou Harris on Griffin's latest album, "Children Running Through"), and played cello on "Burgundy Shoes" and "Kite Song."

Griffin, who has become well-known as a songwriter for other artists and has a deserved reputation for having one of the best voices around, was playing to a nearly packed house. Some of the devoted fans got a little too exuberant mid-set, when the band left the stage and Griffin stood alone with her acoustic guitar. She explained that this was the part of the show in which she got to do whatever she wanted. The faithful followers took this as a cue to start shouting requests, and one guy even yelled out for "Tony" before Griffin was finished with "You Never Get What You Want." That song's title proved poetically just as Griffin politely quieted the rabble by saying, "I do take requests, but it's usually by accident." She didn't play "Tony," either.

The band returned after Griffin's four-song solo stretch, and they steadily gained intensity. Lancio put down his guitar and added percussion on "No Bad News," then played a bluesy, biting solo on "Love Throw a Line." Griffin's voice carried the soaring "Heavenly Day," "I Don't Ever Give Up" and "Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)." The main set ended with "Truth No. 2," a song that helped raise Griffin's profile as a writer because if its association with The Dixie Chicks.

The three-song encore built to a show-ending peak and added another sound to the band's repertoire – flat-out rock – on the defiant "Getting Ready."

Before the show, it was hard to tell how opener Scott Miller would go over with the D.C. crowd. While standing in line at the merchandise table waiting to buy Miller's new live album, "Reconstruction," I overheard several people remark upon seeing Miller's discs that they never had heard of him. A woman sitting behind me in the balcony wondered aloud if he was the same Scott Miller that was the singer for the band Game Theory in the '80s.

Many likely already knew Miller. For the rest, Miller did little to clear up his identity at first, introducing himself before his first three songs as "Neil Diamond," "Al Stewart" and "Engelbert Humperdinck." The humor endeared him to the crowd, but could have as easily been his undoing. After getting a boisterous response for the mention of Manassas in his first song, "Amtrak Crescent" (and, oddly, a bigger response for the mention of High Point, N.C.), and covering Neil Young's "Motion Pictures," Miller drew laughs for the line, "My old man could be your dad's old man," in "Daddy Raised a Boy."

The crowd realized soon enough that "Daddy Raised a Boy" isn't a funny song, and that Miller is a talented songwriter. When he finally disclosed that his name was in fact Scott Miller and he grew up in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, he had their attention and their support. A fair number of those who didn't know him at the start of the night likely revisited the merch table before it was over.

Business undoubtedly was brisk all evening for Griffin, who had the luxury of starting the show with a captive audience. Time after time, she showed how she built such a loyal following.

Setlists
Scott Miller:
Amtrak Crescent
Motion Pictures
Daddy Raised a Boy
For Jack Tymon
Freedom's a Stranger
I Made a Mess of This Town
Is There Room on the Cross for Me
Patty Griffin:
J'irai La Vour Un Jour
First Star
Get Yourself Another Fool
Stay on the Ride
Trapeze
Useless Desires
Burgundy Shoes
Kite Song
You Never Get What You Want
Mary
Not Alone
Be Careful
When it Don't Come Easy
No Bad News
Love Throw a Line
Heavenly Day
I Don't Ever Give Up
Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)
Truth No. 2
Encore
Nobody's Crying
Rain
Getting Ready