Stopped in my tracks

Not too often.  Every once in a while.  I hear a song that stops me in my tracks.  I have to pull over in the car.  Or sit on the couch.  And just listen.  I was watching the songwriters special on ACL.  I knew Dave Matthews and Emmylou Harris.  I found them previously to be 'best in moderation.'  Who was Patty Griffin?  Great harmonies. Good songs.  And then.  And then...this gigantic voice coming from this little woman.  With Emmylou providing harmony.  A religious song?  What?  I could not move.  I could not take my eyes off the TV.  It was like the voices and the music were bigger than the sum of the parts.  It was other-wordly.  If I can say it without seeming trite, it was moving.  Really moving.  She made you care.  About what?  Doesn't matter.  You care.  Emotion comes up from nowhere and dances around inside you, driven solely by the power in that voice.

If I had had a Tivo, I probably would still be sitting there listening to it over and over.  But I didn't.  I went to Amazon and ordered both of Patty's albums.  I wore them out trying to pinpoint what it was about her voice, her songs.  I still don't know.  I own everything she's put out.  It must be a genetic attraction.  How else to explain her lack of super-stardom.  Why doesn't everyone feel the same?  They obviously don't, but I do.  It isn't the content. I felt no pull from the lyrics themselves. I guess part of it is her ability to develop context in a short time with that voice.  It's like an uber-mother slash angel voice that reverberates in your brain.