Patty Griffin’s “Top of the World” is a deathbed reckoning — a life examined right at the end, loss and regret laid out plain. Here it’s just her acoustic guitar and voice, with a subtle electric guitar underneath adding to the song’s melancholy and beauty. If anything, the sparse arrangement makes the regret harder to look away from.
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.