EMI/Credential Recordings is proud to announce that Patty Griffin's acclaimed Downtown Church has been nominated for a Grammy in the "Best Traditional Gospel Album" category. Downtown Church, produced by Buddy Miller, was released this past January and is Griffin's seventh album. It was cut live in The Downtown Presbyterian Church on 5th Ave. N. in Nashville over the first week of January 2009 with Griffin singing from the pulpit. It features vocal support from Emmylou Harris, Raul Malo, Jim Lauderdale, Shawn Colvin, Mike Farris, Buddy and Julie Miller as well as Regina and Ann McCrary, whose father was one of the founding members of the legendary gospel group the Fairfield Four.

Praise for Downtown Church was effusive. Feature profiles ran on CBS Sunday and NPR as well as in the Sunday Arts & Leisure section of the New York Times. Reviews ran in the likes of Rolling Stone, USA Today, People, the Associated Press among many others. The Tennessean hailed, "The collaborators ultimately arrived at an album that can stand with Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace, Harris' Angel Band, and Bob Dylan's Slow Train Coming as an effective and moving, spiritually-oriented album from an artist normally known for secular material." The New York Post called it "hip yet timeless."
Griffin is currently touring the world as a member of Robert Plant's Band of Joy. The album Band of Joy received two Grammy nominations, one for "Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance" for the song "Silver Rider," which heavily features Griffin on vocals.