Diane Patterson

Four Winds Music

Diane Patterson sees herself as a pilgrim and a global citizen cultivating positive change. When she travels to Hawaii, Europe, or New Folsom Prison to share her songs, she’s also celebrating life, embracing ancient wisdom, and creating community. Build a Bridge is the perfect title for the new album from this open-hearted spiritual warrior who sings with an awareness that all of life is sacred.

Describing the inspiration for her song “Holy Land,” Patterson says: “Although there are places called Holy Lands, I move through this beautiful world and see that it’s all holy land and all beings are holy. The time of conquering and colonizing must end.”

Build a Bridge continues Patterson’s journey of “funky earth ballads” grounded in gratitude for nature and ancestors. On “Costa Rica” she sings, “I gotta get my hands in the dirt.” “Restore Me” begins as a delicate tune and opens into a powerful, danceable song inspired by Patterson’s first exposure to permaculture, the holistic design system that uses nature as a model. “I live in the arms of this fragrant land,” she sings. She told S&H, “Our ancestors dedicated themselves to our well-being by creating good relations and abundance. Now it’s our turn to see that everything keeps getting more balanced.”

Patterson’s life philosophy is perhaps wrapped up in one insightful line on her song “The Lamp”: “The world is not ours / The world is us.”