PATTY GRIFFIN + Downtown Church

Patty Griffin is, by her own religious estimation, a lapsed Catholic of no certain faith. So she might seem like an odd duck to be doing a “gospel album”—except that hers is a voice you hope to hear sing not only the phone book but also the Bible, Koran and Bhagavad Gita, if possible. In any case, there’s nothing pat or predictable about the quietly stunning Downtown Church, which finds Griffin focusing on black gospel material but also tackling vintage spirituals ranging from Hank Williams’ haunting “House of Gold” at the beginning to the traditional “All Creatures of Our God and King” at the close. In between, she contributes a couple of stirring original ballads that admittedly would only count as gospel in the eye of the beholder. No matter her actual faith or lack thereof, when Griffin sings about the afterlife in “We Shall All Be Reunited,” you’ll believe that she believes. –Chris Willman