Patty Griffin at Glenn Massay tonight

MAT-SU — American singer-songwriter Patty Griffin is in town for her first-ever performance in Southcentral Alaska.

Whistling Swan Productions has booked Griffin to play at Mat-Su College’s Glenn Massay Theater at 7:30 p.m., tonight. Tickets are $45. Sarah Jaffe, of Denton, Texas, will open the show.

Griffin released her latest album, “American Kid,” in 2013. Kid is her seventh album and first with a majority of new material since “Children Running Through” came out in 2007. In 2010, Griffin made the Grammy Award-winning “Downtown Church,” featuring classic gospel song adaptations and three original songs.

Griffin has lived in Austin, Texas, and recorded either in Austin or Nashville, Tennessee, since she released her first album, “Living with Ghosts,” in 1996. She has since become a member of “Band of Joy,” a group led by Led Zeppelin’s lead vocalist Robert Plant. Band of Joy plays a combination of British and American folk, rock and spiritual music.

Plant sings on “Ohio,” “Faithful Son” and “Highway Song” on American Kid.

Griffin credits North Mississippi Allstars guitarist Luther Dickinson and drummer Cody Dickinson, who have opened for Band of Joy, for teaching her to play the mandolin. The new skills helped her on her way to making American Kid.

Craig Ross, who produced Griffin’s 2004 album, “Impossible Dreams,” also was instrumental in producing American Kid. Griffin said she chose Ross because of his ability “to get the ghost out of the machine.” Ross plays guitar, bass, mandolin, baritone, omnichord and organ on all but two tracks on the album — a cover of Lefty Frizell’s 1951 hit, “Mom and Dad’s Waltz,” and “Irish Boy,” a piece of music with the stripped-down simplicity of Griffin and her own piano playing.

Guitarist Doug Lancio has also contributed to Griffin’s latest album after playing on just about all of her recordings since “Flaming Red” in 1998. Lancio appears on eight of the 12 American Kid tracks.

The album is a thematic compilation, not a concept album, dedicated to and inspired by her father.

Whistling Swan also has booked Griffin at the Atwood Concert Hall in Anchorage’s Alaska Center for the Performing Arts tomorrow, April 4.

Singer-songwriter Josh Ritter is set to take the Massay stage via Whistling Swan April 18.

Tickets are available at the door, or online at Centertix.net, or by calling 907-263-2787.