Cautiously Optimistic

Patty Griffin

Title: Silver Bells

Label: A&M

Release Date: Spring

What To Expect: If Patty Griffin's fans are divided between those who like the sparseness of the local singer-songwriter's Living With Ghosts from 1996 and supporters of 1998's decidedly more rock-oriented Flaming Red, the forthcoming Silver Bells might just unite them. If it does, Griffin says it wasn't intentional.

"I was aiming for getting a unique sound out of the combination of using my touring band, two producers [Jay Joyce and Craig Ross], and Kingsway studios," she says. "By definition, it's less produced than Flaming Red and not an acoustic record, so it's different."

What's Different?: "I was trying to figure out a way to get more of me in there without it being a bare-bones acoustics record or it sounding self-conscious. Over the last few years, I've listened to a lot of Iggy Pop albums, Kinks records, and Chess recordings, things where people were really just making music. And I really wanted to try that with the band."