New West

Patty Griffin’s songwriting has long been championed by fellow artists – Linda Ronstadt and the Dixie Chicks are among those who’ve cut her songs – but only in the last several years, almost two decades into her recording career, have people adequately recognized her for her own recordings. American Kid, Griffin’s debut for New West, may be the most fully realized of those to date, displaying a new confidence perhaps gained from winning a Grammy for 2010’s gospel effort Downtown Church and from the many road miles logged solo and with partner Robert Plant’s Band of Joy. Plant appears on three tracks here, and Griffin has surrounded herself with other can’t-miss accompanists, among them North Mississippi Allstars’ Luther and Cody Dickinson. But ultimately, it comes down to her: Griffin’s sprightly but knowing vocal delivery on these mostly original, finely honed songs of observation and rumination ( “God is a wild old dog someone left out on the highway” ) shines with sincerity, fearlessness and a new determination to make that ambrosial voice heard.