Patty Larkin @ Bridge Street Live

Acoustic Guitar hails her “soundscape experiments.” Rolling Stone praises her “evocative sonic shading.” She has been described as “riveting” (Chicago Tribune), “hypnotic” (Entertainment Weekly) and a “drop-dead brilliant” performer (Performing Songwriter).

Patty Larkin is part of the urban-folk/pop music phenomenon that spun off of the singer/songwriter explosion of the seventies, reinterpreting traditional folk melodies, rock, pop, bossa nova, drawing on anything from Dylan (Bob) to Dylan (Thomas). A self described “guitar driven songwriter,” Larkin has wound her way through soundscapes of evocative vocals, inventive guitar wizardry and imaginative lyrics. Her songs run from impressionistic poetry to witty wordplay.

In 2010 Patty Larkin releases a collectible collection of 25 love songs in celebration of 25 years in the recording industry. Here Patty has reworked 25 of her favorite songs in an acoustic, “unplugged” release, joined by friends along the way.

A follow up to her critically acclaimed WATCH THE SKY (Critics Choice-NY Times, Brilliant-Billboard), “25” is a one of a kind project that is at once intimate and universal, the voice of a generation of songwriters, simple and direct, yet the touchstone of one woman’s song. Over her 25 year career, Patty Larkin has worked with some of the brightest stars in American music, honing a reputation as a “musician’s musician” along the way. On “25” Patty is joined by friends and cohorts, troubadours, renegades, humorists, folk philosophers, dreamers, realists, poets, bards. People who defined a generation of music that wove inside and outside of the box, and sprang from a grassroots love of song, pouring onto the airwaves in an organic, trickle down of musical styles.

This project evolved in much the same way, with Patty looking for a way to celebrate the quarter of a century anniversary of her first album with some friends. Each artist was contacted individually and asked to come on and sing with Patty’s unplugged version of her most requested love songs. Some of the artists were on the road during the recording time and found recording studios wherever they landed, some were in the midst of new releases, some were in the studio working on their own projects, and some were just plain busy with the business of life. The fact that each of these gifted and talented artists found the time and space to lend such beauty to this collection speaks to the pull of friendship and music that has spanned the years.

Here is a moment, a pause, the snapshot of a career that continues to grow and evolve along a creative, adventuresome path. Here’s to “25”, and 25 more.