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Written by Michael Muckian
Mar 10, 2011
Patty Larkin
Outside of zydeco and polka circles, there are probably few musicians who have fond memories of spending time on stage with an accordion. Singer/songwriter Patty Larkin is one of the exceptions.
Her most memorable experience occurred a few years ago, when she took an accordion on stage and, along with folkie Tom Rush, played “Hey Bo Diddley” with none other than Bo Diddley himself.
“That was fun – there are a lot of sharps in that song,” says Larkin, who will take Milwaukee’s Shank Hall stage on March 23 and appear at Madison’s Barrymore Theater on March 26.
Still, Larkin’s instrument of choice, the one that’s characterized her career for more than 25 years, is the guitar – both electric and acoustic.
Guitar wasn’t the first instrument for Larkin, now 59. She started in music with piano lessons at St. Anthony of Padua, a Catholic grade school on Milwaukee’s West Side. The lessons did not go well, she says.
“The school had a very authoritarian structure, and I needed something kinder and gentler at the time,” she explains.
A second round of lessons went better, but it wasn’t until a guitar showed up in the Larkins’ Irish-Catholic household that she joined her older and younger sisters in seriously pursuing music.
“There were no girls sports in those days, which left me a lot of time to practice the guitar and to start writing songs after school,” Larkin says.
Larkin earned a music degree from the University of Oregon in Eugene, playing at coffee houses there and in San Francisco. She was never closeted, she says, because her friends and acquaintances knew and accepted her for who she was.
Upon graduation, Larkin moved to Boston to assist her older sister, who was pregnant with her first child. It was the mid-1970s, and the city’s music scene appealed to Larkin, so she stayed.
She studied jazz guitar at the Berklee College of Music, which has since awarded her an honorary doctorate, a degree that puts her in the same league as Duke Ellington, Natalie Cole and Sting.
Larkin created a rock ‘n’ roll band. “I think we were The Patty Larkin Group,” she says, shrugging off a request for more information. “Please – it was forgettable,” she says.
The rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle took a toll on Larkin, making it hard to maintain her relationship with Bette Warner, her life and business partner of 25 years. Larkin switched to acoustic music and a kinder, gentler sound. The change helped the relationship, she says, and the pair has since adopted two daughters – Ruby, 6, and Xiaodan, 9. The family lives on Cape Cod, Mass.
“I am determined to be more out as a performer and I always thank my partner from the stage,” Larkin says. “It’s not that I need to be honest for their sakes, but for mine.”
In addition to improving her personal situation, the move to acoustic folk gave her more opportunity to write, drawing on the influences of her peers, her upbringing and even the city where she spent her formative years.
“I sang in choirs in grade school, which allowed me to do a lot of ‘ear training,’” she says. “That’s a beautiful way to learn how to sing with people.”
Her family’s musical and artistic nature – her late mother Mary Jeanne Larkin was a painter – fed her artistic muse, as did poetry ranging from Dylan (Thomas) to Dylan (Bob). As a guitar-driven songwriter, she tends to find the melody first then look for the words that match. Her influences include Celtic dance music and old-time country, but she also looks to contemporary artists such as Moby, Beck and Bjork as a source of inspiration.
“I come out of the ’70s with singer/songwriters like Richard Thompson, Joni Mitchell and Bruce Cockburn,” she says.
Cockburn, in fact, was one of the artists to accompany Larkin on “25,” last year’s CD set of 25 acoustic songs she recorded to celebrate the 25th anniversary of “Step into the Light,” the first album she recorded in 1985.
But, back to those accordions. In addition to playing them, Larkin collects and refurbishes them.
“I consider myself an accordion rescue person,” she says. “Some are so beautiful, and some just show up at my door. I have so many that I’ve started to give them away.”
One could say the same about her heart, which she puts in every song she writes.
