My Life is the fourth studio release for American artist

Grace Griffith Grace Bernadette Griffith (née Sisson; October 30, 1956 – June 5, 2021) was a folk and Celtic singer based in Washington, D.C. She has been honored with multiple Wammie awards by the Washington Area Music Association. In 1998, she was diagnose ...

. The album was released March 14, 2006 on

Blix Street Records Blix Street Records is a United States-based record label located in Gig Harbor, Washington, overseen by president Bill Straw. Blix Street features a diverse group of instrumental, vocal, and Celtic albums. Among the more famous artists who have r ...

and was produced by Chris Biondo,

Marcy Marxer Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer are a musical duo who perform folk, bluegrass and children’s music. They have performed with Pete Seeger, Theodore Bikel, Tom Paxton, Patsy Montana, Riders in the Sky and others. The Washington Area Music Association ...

and Lenny Williams who were long-time associates of Griffith who were the production team behind her previous album Sands Of Time. Chris Biondo credits as a producer include

Eva Cassidy Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 – November 2, 1996) was an American singer and guitarist known for her interpretations of jazz, folk, and blues music, sung with a powerful, emotive soprano voice. In 1992, she released her first albu ...

who also recorded with the record label.

Background

My Life was recorded at 2 separate studios and consisted of twelve tracks. They are all cover interpretations. The title track ''My Life'' was written by

Iris Dement Iris Luella DeMent (born January 5, 1961) is an American two-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and musician . DeMent's musical style includes elements of folk, country and gospel. Early life DeMent was born in Paragould, Arkansas, the 14t ...

on her 1994 album My Life which was nominated for a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

in the Best Contemporary Folk Album category. Griffith first recorded it on her Minstrel Song album in 2003. On this recording strings were added and ultimately it became the title track as it set the tone for the album's central theme of the all-healing power of love, hope and inspiration. ''Shape Of My Heart'' written by

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

and

Dominic Miller Dominic James Miller (born 21 March 1960) is an Argentine-born guitarist. With much of his career as a sideman and guitarist for singer Sting (musician), Sting, he has also released several solo albums. Career Miller was born in Hurlingham, Bue ...

) appeared on Sting's 1993 album

Ten Summoner's Tales ''Ten Summoner's Tales'' is the fourth solo studio album by English rock musician Sting. The title is a combined pun of his family name, Sumner, and a character in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbury Tales'', the summoner. Released in 1993, it ...

. For the album Griffith choose an eclectic mix of styles adapting poems, traditional (fourth track The Cuckoo) and contemporary songs. Track seven ''Song For A Winter's Night'' was written by Canadian singer-songwriter

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960 ...

. The poem and ninth track ''Passing Thoughts'' was written by her older brother Fred Sisson and set to music by Carey Creed. Diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

six years before Griffith, Sisson left his government job to devote himself to photography and poetry. According to Griffith, it's not unusual for people with Parkinson's to spout creative wings and celebrate life in and with new directions. The tenth track ''If I Can't Dance'' was a song she performed at the World Parkinson's Congress in February 2006 which Griffith dedicated to other fellow Parkinson's Disease sufferers.

"MY LIFE feels different than any of my other albums," explains Griffith. "It was recorded during a time of profound change in how I define myself. A lot of that change has its origins in my experience with Parkinson's Disease. This album is not about sweating the small stuff. It's about embracing the big stuff—like comforting someone or making them smile, savoring the light of a candle on a winter's night or the sunlight in the whispering summer leaves on a walk in the woods. This album is about connection and how essential connection is to our survival and growth as human beings. I think I've gone a bit further into the dark side of living than on my other albums, but I'm hoping this eyes-wide-open look at struggle makes the beacon—the light of love in a friend's eyes or the spark to dance in the face of an avalanche—shine more brightly."

Critical reception

Jonathan Widran of ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' gave the album four out of five stars. Widran said that Griffith's voice had an "ethereal, emotional magic of Sarah McLachlan", and he made comparisons to the late

because of the albums "exquisite and haunting" values the fact that My Life was recorded for Blix Street, the label that made Cassidy a "posthumous phenomenon". Wildran also pointed out the sadder connection in that "Griffith has been battling Parkinson's Disease since 1998, and who knows how much longer her voice will be as stunning and pure as it is here? " He said that listeners would pay attention to the "heartbreaking, inspiring opening ballad, My Life ". He went on to say that "If this is the last heard from Griffith on disc, it will indeed be a tragedy "

Track listing

Personnel

;Musicians * Grace Griffith –

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

harmony vocals Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are simultaneously sung as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical chora ...

alto recorder The alto recorder in F, also known as a treble (and, historically, as consort flute and common flute) is a member of the recorder family. Up until the 17th century the alto instrument was normally in G4 instead of F4. The alto is between the s ...

* Chris Biondo –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Marcy Marxer –

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, guitar,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

harmony vocal In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring Audio frequency, frequencies, pitch (music), pitches (timb ...

pennywhistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...

* Lenny Williams -

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Al Petteway -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, harmony vocal * Roger Scott Craig – Piano, synthesizer, synthesised strings * Anderson Allen – Zabumda-Brazilian drum * Carey Creed –

* Jon Carrol – piano * Mark Evans – strings *

Cathy Fink ''Cathy'' is an American gag-a-day comic strip, drawn by Cathy Guisewite from 1976 until 2010. The comic follows Cathy, a woman who struggles through the "four basic guilt groups" of life—food, love, family, and work. The strip gently pokes f ...

–

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

, harmony vocals * Ralph Gordon –

standup bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

* Paul Henry –

* Jody Marshall –

hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more trad ...

* Zan Marshall – bouzouki, guitar,

* Richard Miller – nylon stringed guitar * Jennifer Mondie –

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

* Richie Simpkins -

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

* Amy White - harmony vocals * Ann Louise White -

* Jesse Winch – bodhran * Rhonda Winter -

;Technical personnel * Irene Young - photography * Lois Gerard - graphic Design

References

Notes

{{Authority control 2006 albums Music of Washington, D.C. Folk albums by American artists