Presented by Duke Arts Presents
Two-time GRAMMY® Award–winning songwriter Patty Griffin is one of the most beloved voices in American folk and Americana. For more than two decades, she has written songs that capture the small moments and big emotions that shape everyday life.
The New York Times praised Griffin for writing “cameo-carved songs that create complete emotional portraits,” a quality that has made her work widely recorded and deeply influential. Her 2019 self‑titled album earned the GRAMMY® for Best Folk Album, and the Americana Music Association later honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting.
Griffin’s songs stay with listeners long after the music ends.
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American Tobacco Campus
Free and open to all
Patty Griffin is among the most consequential singer-songwriters of her generation, a quintessentially American artist whose wide-ranging canon incisively explores the intimate moments and universal emotions that bind us together.
Over two decades, the 2x GRAMMY® Award winner – and 7x nominee – and Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement award winner, has crafted a remarkable body of work in progress that prompted the New York Times to hail her for“ [writing] cameo-carved songs that create complete emotional portraits of specific people…[her] songs have independent lives that continue in your head when the music ends.”
2019 saw the acclaimed release of the renowned artist’s GRAMMY® Award-winning 10th studio recording, PATTY GRIFFIN. One of the most deeply personal recordings of Griffin’s remarkable two-decade career and first-ever eponymous LP, PATTY GRIFFIN made a top 5 debut on Billboard’s “Independent Albums” chart amidst unprecedented worldwide acclaim, and later, a prestigious GRAMMY® Award for “Best Folk Album.”
Griffin’s new album, CROWN OF ROSES, is a deeply personal and introspective work that explores themes of identity, nature, family, and womanhood. Emerging from a creative drought during the pandemic, Griffin found herself re-evaluating the stories she’d long told herself. The result is an eight-track collection that is both sparse and
emotionally rich, blending folk, Americana, and blues. With CROWN OF ROSES, Griffin offers a record that’s both grounded and transcendent — one that invites listeners to release old narratives, embrace new truths, and stay truly alive while they’re here.
Having crafted a rich catalog that chronicles love and death, heartache and joy, connection and detachment, Patty Griffin continues to push her art forward, as always imbuing every effort with compassion and craft, uncanny perception, and ever-increasing ingenuity.
Duke Arts returns to American Tobacco Campus in September with a new season curated by Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Tift Merritt. This year’s series honors the women whose artistry and audacity have shaped generations of musicians. Merritt has invited participating artists to reflect on the women who influenced their own creative lives and showed them how to carve space for their own work in music.
Now in its sixth year, Duke Arts at American Tobacco has become a signature September tradition in downtown Durham. This ongoing partnership between Duke Arts and American Tobacco Campus brings world-class artists to the heart of the city through free public performances open to all audiences.
These outdoor concerts are free, appropriate for all ages, and open to the general public. No registration is needed. Come early, bring a chair or blanket, and enjoy food and drinks from any of the 15 bars and restaurants on campus. Alcoholic beverages are allowed ONLY if they have been purchased from an establishment participating in The Bullpen Social District; all other alcoholic beverages are strictly prohibited. The stage is located under the Lucky Strike water tower, and the closest parking is at the South Parking Deck at ATC.
Concerts are weather permitting, with notice of cancellation announced at dukearts.org and via Duke Arts social media accounts on the day of the event.
For more information about American Tobacco Campus, visit https://americantobacco.co/your-visit/
Where are the concerts held? The stage is located under the Lucky Strike water tower at American Tobacco Campus, 300 Blackwell Street
Durham, NC 27701.
Is the series free? Yes! All concerts are free, appropriate for all ages, and open to the general public. No registration required!
Where should I park? The closest parking is at the South Parking Deck at ATC.
What should I bring? Bring a blanket or lawn chair, and come early to secure your spot!
Will there be food available? Enjoy food and drinks from any of the 15 bars and restaurants on campus.
Is alcohol allowed? Alcoholic beverages are allowed ONLY if they have been purchased from an establishment participating in The Bullpen Social District; all other alcoholic beverages are strictly prohibited.
From NPR’s Tiny Desk to award-winning screen work, banjoist and songwriter Kaia Kater fuses folk, bluegrass, and contemporary roots music to tell stories of heritage and home.
Drawing on folk and Americana traditions, Cherokee artist Ken Pomeroy creates quietly powerful songs whose poetic lyrics have appeared in “Reservation Dogs” and the “Twisters” soundtrack.
Madison Cunningham moves between indie folk, rock, and art-pop, known for layered arrangements and fearless songwriting—an approach that earned her a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album.
This event is part of the
We the People: A Duke & Durham Initiative