“Mama’s worried all the time/She tells everyone she’s fine,” Patty Griffin discloses somberly on “Mama’s Worried,” the opening ballad from her self-titled new album. “People in their stylish clothes/They look at us and turn up their nose/A hunger deep inside me grows.” Griffin’s lyrics speak to a lot of the anxieties that people are sharing during these uncertain, politically divisive times, and yet they also might allude to her own personal vulnerability after battling against and defeating cancer over the past several years. “Where I Come From,” “Luminous Places” and other songs of home, identity and longing are characterized by Griffin’s delicate but determined vocals and spare acoustic-guitar settings. The record represents a triumphant return from silence after Griffin dealt with breast cancer following the release of her 2015 album, Servant of Love.
The Theatre at Ace Hotel, 929 S. Broadway, downtown L.A.; Tues., June 11, 9 p.m.; $35-$75. www.acehotel.com/losangeles.
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