Patti Witten
Ithaca, New York, United States | SELF
Music
Press
If her dreamy country-pop sound seems perpetually about to slide into a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game," can you really complain? Anyway, if Isaak wants a monopoly on warm slide licks and shuffly drums, he'll have to fight Witten for it, and her gorgeously gloomy, almost Waits-ian song structures promise a pitched battle. - Download.com - Editors' Pick
Patti Witten's new record, Tell the Wind, deserves an A -- for astute, artistic and ambitious. Her intelligent lyrics provide wordplay and imagery, while the sparse arrangements showcase her guitar skills. ...Tell the Wind is music for your mind, heart and soul -- tell everyone we told you so. Featured Download at www.performingsongwriter.com: "Obvious" - Performing Songwriter - Top 12 DIY
(by Alan Cackett) 4 STARS - Quality singer-songwriter fare not to be missed.
Patti Witten has had a somewhat chequered career in music. Classically trained, she started out in bands in her teens, but playing bars she developed a drink problem. Following a failed marriage she decided to give up her musical aspirations and worked a nine-to-five job as an illustrator. fast forward to the mid-1990s and she was tempted back to music by Rosanne cash. She made a few self-released albums, then seriously considered again turning her back on music. But following the break-up of her second marriage she rediscovered her inspiration and the result is TELL THE WIND, an emotional and very personal collection of songs.
... Patti sounds refreshed, her songs are memorable with a great balance of acoustic and electric instruments in one song. "No More Crying" is a killer heartbreak ballad. The whining pedal guitar is great, plus some very good mandolin and acoustic guitar. The airy quality she gets out of the acoustic guitars would make any producer envious. In contrast there's a warm glow to "Obvious;" the syncopated rhythms and cohesiveness of each not is so sweet on the ears. Alongside her own songs, Patti turns in a superb rendition of the Stones' "Dandelion." TELL THE WIND is one amazing record. Seek it out and be amazed.
by Alan Cackett - Maverick
(By Clay Steakley.) In the most adept, accomplished songwriting, there is a fine balance struck between poetry and common language... A through-line from Guthrie to Dylan to Joni Mitchell and on to writers like Greg Brown has set a standard of common people telling common stories in uncommon ways. Patti Witten speaks this language. The songs on her third CD Sycamore Tryst, while poetic, are graced with a confidential voice, like that of a friend leaned in close in a crowded bar or a lover bent over a letter... With the breadth of topic and narrative voice on Sycamore Tryst ranging from butterflies to the execution of Timothy McVeigh to the weather (and all of them covered with grace and economy), Witten proves she has the sensitivity and the reach to make a cohesive record from the most important element of poetry Ñ life.
- Performing Songwriter - DIY Spotlight Review
pattiwitten.com - at
(By Heather Johnson.) The folk-pop gems on Witten's 1999 debut won just about every songwriting contest imaginable, and her latest release is well on its way to repeating the trend. The New England-based singer-songwriter creates thoughtful folk-pop with subtle, poetic beauty, leaving herself vulnerable at times without delving into self-pity ... Let Sycamore Tryst serve as a guide for up-and-coming folk-pop artists who want to take their songcraft to a higher level. - Performing Songwriter - Top 12 DIY
(By Jo Didderen.) Patti Witten's previous albums (Land Of Souvenirs and Prairie Doll) were already good. But with Sycamore Tryst there is no doubt that she can be promoted to the major league of singer-songwriters. In the extensive liner notes, Witten writes extensive explanations to this new collection of quality songs; where and when she wrote them, what they are about, she even gives the guitar tunings she uses. It is quite interesting to read how the artist sees her own work. According to Witten, many of the new songs are attempts to discover how far she can go stylistically. And successful attempts they are, there are no two ways about that. According to her notes, she has listened a lot to Aimee Mann's Bachelor no. 2 -- not the worst of inspirational sources, to say the least. I do not think that Mann alone was responsible for this, but Patti Witten sounds a lot more powerful and self-confident than she did on her previous albums. This is also due to the arrangements and the production; Witten is backed by a rock-solid band „ with producer/guitarist/bass player/keyboard player and background vocalist Rich DePaolo in a prominent role. The band deals with every song to perfection. Production-wise, Sycamore Tryst reminds me somewhat of Lucinda Williams' breakthrough album Car Wheels On A Gravel Road; powerful, with many layers, and prominent guitar parts. Witten's lyrics are melancholic and poetic, but devoid of false sentiments. ... As a songwriter, Witten has once again grown tremendously. There is not a single weak track on Sycamore Tryst. When Patti Witten continues to develop at this rate, her next album may well be her own Bachelor no. 2 or Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. She more than deserves it. - Heaven (Holland)
(By Ronald Lankford, Jr.) Good music is like a good story or movie: something is needed to keep the listener/reader/viewer interested. In music, you may have deep lyrics and state-of-the-art production, but unless you have evocative melodies and a few good hooks, the listener might just grow bored. Patti Witten knows this. She writes good singer-songwriter lyrics and Sycamore Tryst is full of super arrangements, but she's also interested in cutting a wider swath than your average New England poet with a guitar. Song after song, the melodies, warm vocals, and lovely choruses draw the listener into an emotional web of sound and words. ... Simply said, this is good stuff. With intelligent and fun songs, Sycamore Tryst qualifies as much more than your typical singer-songwriter. (Summer 2003) - Sing Out!
- Great American Song Contest: Grand Prize, 2x Outstanding Achievement In Songwriting Award, 4x Honor Award
- Georgia Music Industry Association: 2x Finalist Fall Songwriter's Contest
- Indie Acoustic Project: Top 25 Song of 2006; Top 25 Album of 2003
- Just Plain Folks Music Awards: 2nd Place Best Folk CD, Best Song Finalist, 2x Best Song nominee
- Mid-Atlantic Song Contest: 1st Place, 3rd Place, 8th Place, and Hon. Mention
- One Plus One Songwriting Contest: finalist
- ROCKRGRL Magazine "Discoveries 2004 CD" Contest: winner
- SIBL Project (Songs Inspired By Literature): winner
- SongLounge Song Contest: 2nd & 4th Place
- UNISONG International Song Contest: Top 10%
- Woody Guthrie Folk Festival Song Contest: 3rd Place, 2x Finalist
- Elmira Star Gazette: Local Best CD
- Ithaca Journal: Best Female Singer, Top Ten local CD, 2x Best Contemporary Folk CD
- Best of 2006 RadioFreeTunes stations on Live365
- Best of 2002 KRCL-FM, Salt Lake City, UT, "Thursday Breakfast and Jam”
- Best of 2002 WFIT-FM, Melbourne, FL, "Private Radio"
- various
Discography
Tell The Wind (Potent Folk 2007)
Sycamore Tryst (Potent Folk / I-Town Records 2003)
Prairie Doll (Potent Folk 2000)
Land Of Souvenirs (self 1999)
Available at CD Baby, Amazon and most download sites. Heard on podcasts and internet radio; also heard widely terrestrial radio in the US, in Europe and in regular rotation on XM's "The Village" and "The Loft;" also in film soundtracks and on network TV shows. For a complete list of radio stations playing Patti's music visit www.pattiwitten.com
Photos
Bio
Media News:
"Admit It" appears in "Crossing Jordan" Season One DVD from NBC/Universal
"Black Butterfly" hits 20,000 plays on Pandora Web Radio in the first 3 months of 2008
"Good Thing It's Only In My Mind" appears in ABC's "One Life To Live"
"Another Minute More" used in NBC's "All My Children"
Patti Witten's engaging acoustic-pop has both the intimacy and imagery of folk's "second wave" and the polish of contemporary singer-songwriters. Perhaps that's why Performing Songwriter, the leading independent magazine supporting songwriters, said her writing could serve as a guide for up-and-coming singer-songwriters.
Tell The Wind -- Patti’s third solo CD -- has nine original songs augmented by a pop acoustic version of "Dandelion," the Rolling Stones' Beatles-influenced 1967 flower-power hit single. It scored a Top 12 DIY review from Performing Songwriter, Outstanding Achievement In Songwriting Award from the Great American Song Contest, a Songs of Note Award given by the Indie Acoustic Project Contest, and 4 stars from Maverick magazine in the UK.
Along with reviews in Paste, Sing Out! and Dutch pop music magazine Heaven, Patti's previous album, Sycamore Tryst, also earned an Editor's DIY pick from Performing Songwriter plus a Spotlight DIY feature. Tracks were selected for compilations, notably Artists For Literacy’s benefit CD "Songs Inspired By Literature Chapter Two" alongside cuts from Steve Earle, Rosanne Cash and Tom Waits. Sycamore Tryst was a Top 5 of 2003 for Indie Acoustic Project and tracks were added nationwide on community and college radio, in several European countries, and they’re played in regular rotation on XM's "The Loft" and "The Village."
Originally from Connecticut Patti has lived in Ithaca, NY, since her college days. Trained in classical violin and flute and self-taught on guitar, she pursued a strong interest in acoustic guitar and alternate tunings -- she even took master classes with Oregon band members Ralph Towner and Paul McCandless -- but preferred the role of a sideman in local bands during the 1980s. Patti quit music in 1990 after the sudden death of her first husband, working as a graphic artist and illustrator. Nearly a decade later the hiatus ended when a homemade audition tape earned her a place in Rosanne Cash's coveted songwriting workshops in upstate New York.
Inspired by the workshops Patti's catalog grew quickly. Now it's hard to find a song contest or honor that she hasn't won. No fewer than ten songs from her 1999 debut, Land Of Souvenirs, won numerous awards including Grand Prize in the Great American Song Contest. Working with longtime friend, band mate and producer Rich DePaolo, Patti went on to release a six-song EP named for their band, Prairie Doll, in 2000, followed by Sycamore Tryst in 2003. Cash contributed liner notes for Sycamore Tryst, saying, "I was struck from the first verse I ever heard her play. She is a gifted, original songwriter who delivers her songs with a clarity and strength that are quite rare."
All told, Patti's songs have earned more than thirty honors and awards from a list of international and regional competitions, and have appeared in several network TV shows and independent films. Patti has showcased at the Durango Songwriters Expo and special events during SXSW in Austin, TX, the Americana Music Association conference in Nashville, regional Folk Alliance conferences -- and she often gives thoughtful and thought-provoking radio interviews. Patti's CDs and downloads are available from CD Baby and Amazon, iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic and more.
Management: Garvan Management
Stephen Bond Garvan
phone: 208-265-1718 mobile: 303-809-1676
Email: steve@garvanmanagement.com
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