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The Granary Girls
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It is said you have to live the music to play the music. If this is true, then the Granary Girls are doing just that. Their songs, which reflect on a more common and simple life, are a tribute to the spirit with which they live their lives.
Patty Kakac, who has a traditional, Judy Collins-esque warble, grew up on a farm near Alexandria, Minnesota. A self-taught singer and songwriter, she formed the band Patty and the Pinetones, which eventually disbanded. Jodi Ritter, who has a rich, full alto similar to Patty Loveless, is from Pembina, N.D. With two musician parents (her dad toured with gospel group and her mom cut a record in San Francisco before she met him), Ritter began voice training before she started kindergarten. Ritter isn’t a trained musician, but her ear has helped her learn at attitude-driven doghouse bass and soulful finger style guitar.
Kakac met Ritter in 1997. Kakac was composing music for a play about AIDS, and Ritter, who had recently moved to Alexandria and was working at a crisis center, volunteered as a singer. But she was fired for her political activism, had no job, and couldn't afford her apartment anymore. Kakac offered her granary, which she had turned into a summer kitchen for canning and baking, but which was also furnished as a guest house. Ritter accepted, their musical partnership solidified, and the granary gave them their name – the Granary Girls.
Today, the Granary Girls play music full time, their gigs ranging from intimate concerts in people's homes to crisis center fund-raisers. They also do an unusual residency in schools, helping children learn about community elders and write songs about them.
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Wild Roses The Granary Girls sophmore effort. A collection of stories gathered by a stream flowing through the prairie. Sometimes wide and flowing slowly with harmony. Other times narrow, swift and bubbling at play. Includes "I Wanted to Be a Cowboy," co-written with the 5th and 6th grades of Evansville, MN. CD Price: $14.97  |
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Sewing Seeds The Granary Girls debut CD. Includes a variety rarely heard in the industry, jumping from a sassy picker called "Herstory" to a cover of Gillian Welch's "Caleb Meyer" about a rape; from a sweet country waltz to a children's song about a rooster - including clucks! CD Price: $14.97 |