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Patty Larkin

Patty Larkin redefines the boundaries of folk-urban pop music with her inventive guitar wizardry and uncompromising vocals and lyrics.

Patty Larkin ~ vocals, guitar

Acoustic Guitar hails her "soundscape experiments" while Rolling Stone praises her "evocative and sonic shading." She has been described as "riveting" (Chicago Tribune), "hypnotic" (Entertainment Weekly) and a "drop-dead brilliant" performer (Performing Songwriter).

Patty Larkin's most recent release, Still Green, her 13th recording, is co-produced with Mike Denneen (Aimee Mann, Howie Day). Still Green plays out in Technicolor sound images, a kaleidoscope of sun and sea traveling from the fluorescent-lit hallways of grief to the warm pull of love, family and nature. Much of it written in a primitive dune shack on the Outer Banks of Cape Cod's National Seashore, Still Green is a fresh approach to sound and life from a legendary songwriter who continues to amaze.

Patty's previous release, 25, celebrated a quarter century of music making with a 25-song, career retrospective reworked with voice and guitar and 25 friends. Among them, Grammy winners (Rosanne Cash, Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, Janis Ian), and a veritable who's-who of singer songwriters (Bruce Cockburn, Martin Sexton, Dar Williams, Greg Brown, Mary Chapin Carpenter), and others.

Patty Larkin grew up in a musical and artistic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Descended from a long line of Irish American singers and taletellers, her mother was a painter, her sisters both musicians. She learned at a young age to appreciate the beauty of the arts. She began classical piano studies at age 7, and became swept up in the sounds of pop and folk in the 60s, teaching herself the guitar and experimenting with songwriting in high school. An English major, Larkin sang throughout her high school and college career, starting out in coffeehouses in Oregon and San Francisco. Upon graduation from the University of Oregon, she moved to Boston and devoted herself to music, busking on the streets of Cambridge and studying jazz guitar at Berklee College of Music and with Boston area jazz guitarists.

Patty is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music, where she is now an Artist in Residence. Patty has earned an eleven Boston Music Awards and has been honored by Boston's Mayor Thomas Menino with "Patty Larkin Appreciation Day" in recognition of her philanthropic Contributions to non-profit organizations.

Photo by Jana Leon