Bonnie's Pride and Joy

Homeward Bound: A Grammy Salute to the Songs of Paul Simon
Bonnie Raitt, Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood, Stevie Wonder, Sting and many more performed Simon's songs.

on December 22, 2022 No comments

By Paul Grein

*Paul Simon performs onstage during Homeward Bound: A GRAMMY Salute To The Songs Of Paul Simon at Hollywood Pantages Theatre on April 6, 2022 in Hollywood, California.*
© Kevin Mazur /Getty Images for The Recording Academy

It’s not a surprise that Homeward Bound: A Grammy Salute to the Songs of Paul Simon, which aired (recorded April 6, 2022) on CBS on Wednesday Dec. 21, was so satisfying.

Paul Simon has long been regarded as one of our top songwriters. He won the 1970 Grammy for song of the year for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and was nominated in that category for “Mrs. Robinson” and “Graceland.” He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1982 and received that organization’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 1998. In 2007, he became the inaugural recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

Many of the participants on the two-hour special spoke warmly about Simon’s songs. Elton John Elton John called him “one of the greatest songwriters of all time” and recalled early days when he and Bernie Taupin would sit “on the floor with our headphones listening to [Simon & Garfunkel’s] Bookends just in complete awe of the songs – the way you wrote the songs and the sounds. As a songwriter, you are the bees’ knees.”

Remembering his childhood home, Garth Brooks said “When your stuff was playing, our house was a sweet place to be in.” Herbie Hancock said, “Paul Simon is a truly global citizen of this musical world – a daring and visionary artist who is open to our entire musical universe.” Dustin Hoffman said, “Quite simply, The Graduate would not be The Graduate” without Simon’s songs. Sting, Oprah Winfrey, Sofia Carson and actor Woody Harrelson also paid tribute to the master songwriter.

The special included performances of 10 of Simon’s 14 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 (combining Simon & Garfunkel and solo releases). At the end of the evening, Simon said “It’s been a night of extraordinary and many unexpected pleasures. I’d really like to thank all of these artists. It’s really amazing if you’re a writer to hear another artist perform your song well. It really makes a songwriter feel good. It makes you feel like you wrote a good song.”

Simon’s first major hit, “The Sound of Silence,” includes a lyric, “People writing songs that voices never shared/And no one dared/Disturb the sound of silence.” As a songwriter, Simon has never known that feeling and never will.

Ken Ehrlich, who was the producer or executive producer of the annual Grammy telecast for four decades from 1980-2020, executive produced this special (and co-wrote it with David Wild). Ehrlich’s talent, taste and connections are a big reason the show was so compelling.

Here are nine of the most memorable performances from the special, which is available to stream on demand on Paramount+.

Billy Porter with Take 6, “Loves Me Like a Rock”

Song history: This was the second single from There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. The song, on which Simon was backed by The Dixie Hummingbirds, reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 in October 1973.

Notes: Porter sang the song with evangelical fervor. He explained that as a gay kid who was raised in the Pentecostal church, he could relate powerfully to the song’s twin images of “a consecrated boy” and “a consummated man.” Porter said to him the song is fundamentally about a mother’s love. Indeed, many of Simon’s songs explore the theme of the parent/child relationship, including “Mother and Child Reunion” (which was performed on the show by Jimmy Cliff and Shaggy) and “Slip Slidin’ Away” (performed by Little Big Town).

Bonnie Raitt With Brad Paisley, “Something So Right”

*Bonnie Raitt collaborate with Brad Paisley for the Recording Academy GRAMMYs Tribute to Paul Simon – “Something So Right” – April 6, 2022*

Song history: This was also from There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. It was never released as a single for Simon, though it showed up as the B side of his 1977 hit “Slip Slidin’ Away.” Barbra Streisand recorded it on The Way We Were, which topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks in March 1974. Other artists who have recorded the song include Phoebe Snow, Annie Lennox and Yearwood.

Notes: Paisley (who had opened the show with a solid performance of “Kodachrome”) played bluesy guitar behind Raitt as she sang an exquisite version of this song. Raitt noted that “this song wasn’t a big hit single. It was just stunning and deep and true.” The song includes one of the most eloquent lyrical passages of any song in modern times: “Some people never say the words ‘I love you’/It’s not their style to be so bold/Some people never say those words ‘I love you’/But like a child, they’re longing to be told.”

Rhiannon Giddens With Paul Simon, “American Tune”

Song history: This was the third single from Simon’s second solo album, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. It failed to match the commercial success of the album’s first two singles, “Kodachrome” and “Loves Me Like a Rock,” both of which reached No. 2 on the Hot 100. “American Tune” peaked at No. 35 in January 1974.

Notes: “American Tune” is a hymn, really, and one of Simon’s finest songs. On the special, Simon noted that Giddens wasn’t even born when he wrote the song. But she related all the meaning of such lines as “And I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered/I don’t have a friend who feels at ease.” The song resonated amid the Vietnam/Watergate agonies of the early ‘70s and it resonates even more today after years of COVID and political turmoil. “It seems right to sing it today,” Simon said.

Garth Brooks With Trisha Yearwood, “The Boxer”

Song history: This was initially a one-off single for Simon & Garfunkel. It reached No. 7 on the Hot 100 in May 1969 and was included on Bridge Over Troubled Water the following year.

Notes: Brooks took the lead on this faithful performance of the song, with Yearwood offering expert harmony vocals.

Sting, “America”

Song history: This ballad appeared on S&G’s 1968 album Bookends, but it wasn’t released as an S&G single until 1972, when the success of Simon & Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits (top five on the Billboard 200 in July of that year) reminded the industry of their potency. Prog-rock giants Yes had the biggest hit version of the song (No. 46 on the Hot 100 in September 1972).

Notes: It’s interesting that an Englishman chose to perform this song about searching for the soul of America, a song that was first released in one of the most turbulent years in American history. But Sting has a strong affinity for the song. ““God bless you, Paul for writing this great song,” he said. “I love it.”

Stevie Wonder With Ledisi, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

*Stevie Wonder performs during Homeward Bound: A GRAMMY Salute To The Songs Of Paul Simon at Hollywood Pantages Theatre on April 06, 2022 in Hollywood, California.* © Christopher Polk /CBS via Getty Images

Song history: This power ballad topped the Hot 100 for six weeks from February to April 1970. It was both S&G’s biggest hit and the year’s biggest hit. It swept Grammys for record and song of the year. Aretha Franklin’s classic soul version reached No. 6 the following year – and also won a Grammy. Other artists who have charted with the song include disco star Linda Clifford in 1979 and Mary J. Blige & Andrea Bocelli in 2010.

Notes: Wonder and Ledisi built on Franklin’s classic soul cover version for this duet. Wonder introduced the song by calling it “one of the most beautiful songs ever written.” Wonder and Ledisi also performed S&G’s 1968 classic “Mrs. Robinson,” joined by the Jonas Brothers and Sheila E. Wonder and Simon have long shown mutual respect for each other. Wonder beat Simon for album of the year at the 1974 Grammy ceremony. When Simon won two years later for Still Crazy After All These Years, he famously remarked, “Most of all, I’d like to thank Stevie Wonder, who didn’t make an album this year.”

Paul Simon, “The Sound of Silence”

Song history: This tender ballad was Simon & Garfunkel’s first No. 1 hit on the Hot 100. It logged two weeks at No. 1 in January 1966. Disturbed’s crunching hard-rock version of the song reached No. 42 in 2016.

Notes: This was one of three songs that Simon performed to close the show, along with “Graceland” and “American Tune.” The song’s theme of disconnection is, sadly, timeless – “People talking without speaking/People hearing without listening.” The only thing that would have made this closing number it better is if Art Garfunkel had walked on stage to join his old partner.

Eric Church, “Homeward Bound”

Song history: This was Simon & Garfunkel’s second top five single on the Hot 100. It reached No. 5 in March 1966. Many artists have covered it, including Glen Campbell, who included it on By the Time I Get to Phoenix, which won the 1968 Grammy for album of the year (beating Bookends, as it happens). Simon performed “Homeward Bound” with George Harrison on Saturday Night Live in 1976.

Notes: Church offered a fine version of this ballad, which lends itself to a country spin (though it has never been a major country hit). He prefaced it by saying, “Paul Simon is a Mt. Rushmore songwriter and artist in my career – in my life, actually which makes this…terrifying.” The camera cut to Simon laughing at Church’s self-effacing remark.

Dave Matthews With Angélique Kidjo and Take 6, “You Can Call Me Al”

*Angelique Kidjo and Dave Matthews are seen backstage during Homeward Bound: A GRAMMY Salute To The Songs Of Paul Simon at Hollywood Pantages Theatre on April 06, 2022 in Hollywood, California.* © Kevin Mazur /Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Song history: This zesty song was the biggest hit from Simon’s Graceland album, which won a Grammy for album of the year and subsequently rose to No. 3 on the Billboard 200. The song reached No. 23 on the Hot 100 in May 1987 — Simon’s most recent top 40 hit.

Notes: Matthews, who as the announcer reminded us, was born in South Africa, sang the song on the special, backed by Angélique Kidjo and Take 6. The performers also delivered two other songs from Graceland, “Homeless” and “Under African Skies.”

About The Author

Paul Grein

Paul Grein, Billboard’s awards editor, began writing for the magazine as a freelancer in 1975, when he was a junior at the University of California, Los Angeles. He graduated in 1976 with a degree in communication studies and joined the Billboard staff the following year. He created the Chartbeat column in 1981, for which he won a Donaldson Award (named after Billboard co-founder William Donaldson) in 1984 as the best column in the magazine (there was no Billboard.com in those days). Over the years, he has also covered popular music for such outlets as the Los Angeles Times, Yahoo Music and Hits. Grein rejoined Billboard in 2019, with the goal of covering the awards beat with the same authority and obsessive zeal that Billboard has long brought to its chart coverage. Grein’s hobbies include listening to music, following the charts and watching award shows, which means his job is a perfect fit. Grein believes that music and staying on top of the ever-changing music scene keeps him young.

Source: © Copyright Billboard

But wait, there's more!

Again and again, Bonnie Raitt did it her way. Her way keeps on working.
Kennedy Center Honors

on December 3, 2024 No comments

By Karen Heller

Hanging out with the sublime singer who makes her guitar sound “the way bacon smells” — and reflecting on her lifetime of music and activism.

SAN FRANCISCO

In the late 1960s during her sophomore year, Bonnie Raitt took a leave from Radcliffe. Her intention was to hang with blues legends Mississippi Fred McDowell, Son House, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, who were managed by her then-boyfriend Dick Waterman, inhaling the sort of storied education that wasn’t offered at Harvard.

Video: © Jesse Dittmar /The Washington Post

Music was “just a hobby and a passion of mine,” says Raitt, 75, who began noodling on a $25 guitar from Sears at the age of 8 and was quickly influenced by an array of blues, folk and country artists. “I never expected it to be my life. My intention was to have a really cool side experience.”

Instead, Raitt has helmed a rock, folk and blues odyssey that is as improbable as it is lengthy, 21 albums and 54 years of touring punctuated by triumphs that erupted decades apart in an industry that tends to Vitamix its young.

“Takin’ My Time,” the title of her 1973 third album, proved prophetic. It took Raitt, among this year’s Kennedy Center Honors recipients, nearly two decades of recording to top the charts with her 1989 Grammy album of the year “Nick of Time” and then — wait for it — another two decades to have her writing honored for the tear-duct-depleter and 2023 Grammy song of the year, “Just Like That.” In broadcast footage of both ceremonies, she looks profoundly shocked by the wins.

When Raitt first left college, “my plan was to hang out with my heroes and use my hobby to maybe open some shows,” she says, sitting in a friend’s loft office near her home in Marin County, California. “She jumped into the deep end of the pool,” says Taj Mahal, who met her during those early days. “She could hang with any of them.”

Raitt returned to college for another year, while playing in local clubs. The record labels came courting. With characteristic moxie, Raitt told executives, “If you give me complete artistic control and never tell me what to wear or what to sing and who to work with or how often to make the records, I will work really hard.”

She was all of 20.

Warner Brothers conceded to every wish, and Raitt quit Radcliffe for good. She found a way to meld music and activism through a lifetime of touring, a calling. “Making people happy every night, including us, is a thrill,” she says.

*When she landed a record deal in 1969, Raitt told Billboard, “I was inexpensive, nonthreatening and interesting.”* © Jesse Dittmar /The Washington Post

A lengthy autumn afternoon hanging with Raitt is exactly as you might expect, like meeting a dear friend. Her distinctive face — an aquiline nose, eyes canopied by a high crease — is framed by a fountain of Titian hair fronted by a signature white streak that first appeared in her 30s. She’s bought a vivid bouquet to brighten the room, answers every question without hesitation, and leaves with a powerful hug. There are candid and lively peregrinations about politics (progressive), old friends (kept), new causes (myriad), industry gossip (delicious), sobriety (since age 37), exercise (yoga, biking and hiking so she can keep touring), children (never wanted them, asks about yours), men (marriage to actor Michael O’Keefe, 1991-1999, mum about her love life, invoking the Sippie Wallace mantra, “women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don’t advertise your man”), the influence of parents (profound) and thrift (“I’m Quaker and Scottish so I’m quite frugal”).

“Bonnie epitomized and personified what I saw for myself,” says Sheryl Crow, who credits Raitt as “the template for showing me that a woman can front a band playing the guitar. She shares her ideas. She’s an excellent mentor.” Best advice? “Keep your nose in the work, and don’t ever listen to anybody.” Says Raitt, “I’m really lucky that I’m the boss. I was just too much of a feminist to be pushed around.”

Bonnie Raitt and Sheryl Crow perform at CMT studios in 2019 in Nashville. “Bonnie epitomized and personified what I saw for myself,” says Crow, who credits Raitt as “the template for showing me that a woman can front a band playing the guitar.” © Jason Kempin /Getty Images for CMT

Her late father, musical theater luminary John Raitt (“Carousel,” “Oklahoma,” “The Pajama Game”), remains her Polaris. “My dad didn’t care if he had another Broadway show. He just wanted to take his music to the people,” she says. “He knew that he would last a long time if every show was opening night. I grew up with that ethos and knew how much fun he had.” He toured until his mid-80s, until his body would no longer let him. (He died of complications from pneumonia in 2005 at the age of 88.)

That kind of staying power is Raitt’s mission, too. In 1978, she attended the first Kennedy Center Honors, where her father performed as part of the tribute to composer Richard Rodgers. Almost a half-century later, it’s her turn.

Early on, in addition to being a red-haired Radcliffe dropout steeped in the blues, Raitt was aware that she was peddling something novel. “If I was only doing blues, we wouldn’t be sitting here. The mix of what I do is what makes it stand out,” she says. “If I didn’t play guitar the way I did, I would never have gotten a record deal.” The late B.B. King, one of Raitt’s many collaborators, dubbed her “the best damn slide player working.” She’s a master of fingerpicking, too. The goal, she has said, is to make her guitar sound “the way bacon smells,” inspiring a trove of younger female performers. When she landed a record deal in 1969, Raitt told Billboard, “I was inexpensive, nonthreatening and interesting.”

*John Lee Hooker and Bonnie Raitt – John Lee Hooker Tribute at Madison Square Garden, New York, October 16, 1990* © Paul Natkin /WireImage/Getty Images

She was more than that. “When Bonnie sings, she commands this truth. She demands it of herself and of the song and the music,” says Jackson Browne, who toured with Raitt during the early 1970s, two bands sardined into one bus. She was a self-identified tomboy and often the only woman on board.

Blues and jazz legends have perennially aged with grace, becoming more venerated with time. No one could have guessed when she entered the youth-obsessed rock industry — just after Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison died at age 27 — that its performers could enjoy a lasting audience, and that their fans might stay true to their musical heroes for the long haul, achieving a profound bond spanning decades.

She is the one singer who I kind of feel like she’s mine. Thousands of fans feel exactly the same way
Julia Louis-Dreyfus

“She is the one singer who I kind of feel like she’s mine. Thousands of fans feel exactly the same way,” Julia Louis-Dreyfus gushed when Raitt appeared on the actor’s podcast this year. Almost everyone wanted to collaborate with Raitt: Aretha Franklin, blues titans (John Lee Hooker, Ruth Brown, Pops and Mavis Staples), Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson. “She loves the collaboration, the spark, and knows that’s where all the good juju is,” Crow says.

“We’ve all become really comfortable with our age. Your elder years have completely changed,” Raitt says. “It’s wonderful that Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift are fans of mine. I think they’re all fantastic.”

One of her childhood role models was Miss Kitty on television’s “Gunsmoke,” portrayed by Amanda Blake. “She was sassy, had swagger and owned the saloon, so she didn’t have to get married.” A redhead, too. Raitt views herself as a character actress among singers, not a leading lady. “I get to age more gracefully. I don’t have to follow the path where I’m going to do a skin-care commercial,” she says.

Bonnie Raitt performs with her father, musical theater luminary John Raitt. In 1978, she attended the first Kennedy Center Honors, where her father performed as part of the tribute to composer Richard Rodgers. © Bettmann Archive /Getty Images

There was also durability in primarily being an interpreter of other people’s songs. “I would be totally bored doing only my own point of view. It’s the mix of different points of views and styles that keeps me interested,” Raitt says. She didn’t have to wait for inspiration to strike, an advantage in delivering the next album and mastering new material.

Raitt never tired of the road. Never wanting children made it easier. “It’s like a magical exhalation that happens, the exchange between the audience and us,” says Raitt, who has won 13 Grammys as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award, and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. “Playing live is what drives you. That’s what your purpose is. At the end of the night, I feel like I’ve had my blood changed.” Being at home for too long “is really boring,” she says. “Traveling in a pack on the road is like a moving summer camp.”

Raitt’s parents were Quakers and peace activists. Her mother, Marjorie, was a pianist and her father’s musical director. (They divorced in 1971.) Bonnie was the middle of three children, the only girl, all of them musical. At school, she refused to participate in mandatory bomb threat drills. At age 15, she accompanied her mother to the March on Washington against the Vietnam War. “I’m an activist musician, a woman bandleader and music director. It’s a big deal,” says Raitt.

John Raitt and his family liked to spend weekends away from the glitter of Hollywood. Heading for a weekend outing in the desert in February 1961 are Marjorie, David, 9, and John. In back are Bonnie Lynn, 12, and Stephen, 14. © AP Photo

She buys back her concert tickets to thwart speculators, offering premium seats at higher prices with the proceeds funneled into a dizzying number of causes. In 2022, she dispensed 147 charitable grants totaling more than $300,000 from touring, independent of her benefit performances and personal donations. “I think of my causes as my fifth band member,” she says. “Fairness is the thing that runs through everything I do.”

In her early days, Raitt made good on her promise to the record label, releasing six albums in seven years, interpreting other writers’ songs to the point of ownership: Chris Smither’s “Love Me Like a Man,” Joni Mitchell’s “That Song About the Midway” and John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery,” the last performed at every concert.

“I couldn’t stand my voice back then. It was high and fruity sounding,” Raitt says. She aged it with late nights of drink to sound more like her heroes, Sippie Wallace and Etta James. “I hammered that baby into submission,” she says.

*Bonnie Raitt performs at a San Francisco television studio in 1975. “Playing live is what drives you,” she said. “That’s what your purpose is.”* © Ginny Winn /Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

“It was a great voice learning to expand itself to its potential,” says Taj Mahal. “She’s done the thing that you have to do with your voice, and that is make it a signature. As soon as you hear it, you know who you’re listening to.” The same holds true for her guitar playing.

Raitt developed a devoted fan base on college campuses, smaller venues and progressive FM radio, but not substantial sales. Becoming big wasn’t the dream. “I’ve turned down songs that were clearly hits because I just thought it was too on the nose,” she says.

“Bonnie’s not standing in line waiting to be made the latest flavor,” Browne says. “She’s one of those people that is plugged into the moment, and the truth of the moment.”

In late 1983, the label dumped her, along with Randy Newman, T-Bone Burnett and Arlo Guthrie. Raitt was livid.

The quest was for young artists, pop hits, a hailstorm of synthesizer.

“I wasn’t linking up with what they were looking for,” she says.

Raitt got sober, got in shape and teamed up with musician Don Was, now a vaunted producer. “We weren’t the most attractive or the most commercial package to be offered to a label,” Was says. But they agreed on the path forward.

The only way to get noticed is to go deeper,” Was says. “At that time, no one wanted to hear music about turning 40. ‘Nick of Time’ is totally about turning 40.

“The only way to get noticed is to go deeper,” Was says. “At that time, no one wanted to hear music about turning 40. ‘Nick of Time’ is totally about turning 40.”

Their aim was to acquire emotional intimacy, to make the album sound like “Bonnie was six inches away from you, talking to you in your ear,” Was says. “That called for a whole lot of space, which wasn’t fashionable at the time. The really great, sensitive artists always know when to leave. The emotion is sometimes in the nuance.”

When Raitt recorded her gut-wrenching single “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” written by Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin, which routinely leaves fans in tears, she was newly married to O’Keefe, happy. “She kind of Stanislavskied it. She found some incident in her life to access,” Was says. Steeped in the blues, Raitt was a musical method actor, leaning into the hurt. A studio exec dropped by one of their sessions. Was recalls the executive asking him, “Do you have a tux? Because you better get one. You’re going to the Grammys.”

*Known for her charitable causes, in 2022 Raitt dispensed 147 grants totaling more than $300,000 from touring. “I think of my causes as my fifth band member,” she said.* © Jesse Dittmar /The Washington Post

Forty turned out to be just fine, as did 50 through 75. Lo and behold, her audience grew. “Nick of Time” has now sold more than 5 million copies in the United States and, two years ago, entered the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.

Raitt has contributed more original compositions on recent albums. “Just Like That” tells the story of a woman who causes a car accident that kills her son, then meets the transplant victim who received his heart, the latter inspired by a news story. Even after singing the song a few hundred times, Raitt cries recalling its genesis.

“Songs like ‘Just Like That’ don’t come along very often,” Crow says. “It’s a perfect song, and if she never wrote a song before or after it, it wouldn’t matter. It is deep and meaningful, and I feel like it’s who she truly is. A thinker, an intellect. She shows up for the cause.”

*Bonnie Raitt took home Grammy Awards for song of the year for “Just Like That” and best Americana performance for “Made Up My Mind” at the 2023 ceremony in Los Angeles.* © Jae C. Hong /Invision/AP Photo

“To have your livelihood fall into your lap without desiring it,” Raitt says, “then to be able to use your gift to raise money and more attention than you would have had you become an activist or social worker is incredible.”

This, she did. Hold steady. Maintain artistic autonomy. Don’t let anyone tell you what to do. Work really hard. Bring your music to the fans. Love what you’re doing. Do it as long as you can. Sooner but possibly much later, the accolades will come.

*Bonnie Raitt photographed at the Rosebud Agency in San Francisco on Oct. 14. The renowned musician will receive a Kennedy Center Honors award this month.* © Jesse Dittmar /The Washington Post

About The Author

Karen Heller

Education: University of Chicago, BA in history

Karen Heller is national general features writer for Style. She joined The Washington Post in 2014, and reports on a wide array of subjects, including popular culture, politics, books and cultural differences. She was previously a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and was a finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in commentary.

Source: © Copyright The Washington Post

But wait, there's more!

Top Raitted concert

on December 2, 2024 No comments

Zach Cooley Correspondent – Strictly Observing

Roanoke audiences have waited 30 years to see Bonnie Raitt. In her sold-out 100-minute show on Nov. 15 at the Berglund Performing Arts Theater, the 75-year-old blues legend made her long-anticipated appearance worth the wait. An ecstatic, capacity crowd of 2,151 fans greeted the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer with a standing ovation.

“I don’t play here often enough,” she admitted. “Thank you for coming out to see us and making us feel so welcome.”

Opening with the self-penned “Longing in Their Hearts” from 1994, Raitt followed up with “God Was in the Water” from her 2005 album Souls Alike. It was during the tour for that record that I first saw Bonnie Raitt live. My visit to Roanoke with my dear friend Jeremy Miller was my sixth concert starring the red-haired slide guitar virtuoso.

“For an L.A. person like me,” she said, praising our area, “seeing your beautiful hills in the fall makes me understand why you folks live here.”

Raitt then turned to her latest, triple Grammy-winning 2022 album Just Like That, performing “Made Up Mind,” “Blame It on Me,” and “Livin’ for the Ones Who Didn’t Make It.”

“When I lost my brother in 2009,” she said, speaking of the inspiration for the latter song, “I promised him I would spend the rest of my life grabbing the chances he never got to take.”

“A couple of real-life stories inspired me to write the lyrics to ‘Just Like That,’” Raitt continued, referring to the title track, which won her a pair of Grammy Awards in 2023, including her first for “Song of the Year.” “I wanted to write something like John Prine’s ‘Angel from Montgomery.’ I wish I could have played it for him before we lost him to COVID.”

John Hiatt’s “No Business” from Raitt’s best-selling 1991 album Luck of the Draw was another evening highlight. So was the classic “Love Me Like a Man” from her 1972 sophomore album Give It Up, not to mention “Spit of Love,” another original composition from 1998’s Fundamental.

Raitt launched into her biggest hit, “Something to Talk About,” by omitting the song’s intro altogether, diving straight into the memorable lyrics. The crowd was on its feet throughout.

Switching guitars for nearly every song—from slide to acoustic, electric, and 12-string—Raitt played each one flawlessly, as she did with every song she sang.

“It’s not a fashion choice,” she explained. “Each guitar is pre-tuned to the key of the song.”

At 75, her mezzo-soprano is in as remarkable a shape as her outward appearance. It was clear, however, that she saved her voice for the most important songs, like “Angel from Montgomery,” which brought the crowd to its feet again. Raitt never failed to deliver. Another element not lost with age is her raw sensuality.

“Even at this advanced age,” she said before launching into her 2016 cover of INXS’s “Need You Tonight,” “our thoughts still turn to this.”

She then headed to the piano for my favorite number, “Nick of Time.” As much as I couldn’t help but sing along to most of the songs, I was purposefully quiet during this one, making sure not to miss a single note. Raitt appeared to enjoy it as much as I did.

“I could play that all night,” she said, humming the popular hook she wrote for the title track to her chart-topping 1989 album.

Ending her main set with her cover of Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House,” Raitt returned to the stage promptly for a three-song encore, which featured the staple ballad “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” earning its own standing ovation.

“I couldn’t leave without singing you this one,” Raitt promised. “Mike Reid, a former football player with the Cincinnati Bengals, wrote this song. He’s this giant guy with a tender voice like Michael McDonald’s.”

She then offered another original, “One Belief Away,” which she wrote with Irishman Paul Brady and the late Zimbabwean Oliver Mtukudzi, who also passed away prematurely from COVID. “One Belief Away” from Fundamental was another real treat.

For her closing number, Raitt invited her opening act, James Hunter, on stage to accompany her on harmonica during the classic blues number “Never Make Your Move Too Soon.” Raitt originally recorded the song for her 1995 live album Road Tested, with the late rhythm and blues pioneers Charles Brown and Ruth Brown.

Before departing her adoring audience, Raitt left us with words of encouragement.

“Be kind to each other and let’s help each other through whatever it is we must overcome,” she said, bidding farewell to Roanoke. “Let’s make a conscious decision to be hopeful and joyful.”

Raitt’s opening act was The James Hunter Six. One member of the band was missing, though.

“He’s suffering from a better gig,” Hunter explained.

Although based in England, Hunter and his band of a pair of saxophonists, drummer, and keyboardist, were deeply immersed in the sounds of Motown and American soul from the ’50s and ’60s. Hunter’s own voice showed hints of Marvin Gaye, Ben E. King, and Levi Stubbs. An episode of The Twilight Zone starring William Shatner inspired his own composition, ironically titled “Nick of Time.”

“If England had sounded that good,” Raitt praised. “We wouldn’t have left.”

But wait, there's more!

Bonnie Raitt and James Hunter stage masterful double-bill in Clearwater
Raitt’s knack for tempering the flow of her performances is almost as fascinating as her musical chops.

on November 26, 2024 No comments

By Gabe Echazabal

It may have been an unseasonably chilly night outside, but any traces of wintry temps were quickly dashed inside the confines of Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall last Saturday night, thanks to the heat the performers generated all night long. In one of the better and most attractive double-bills to hit the local touring circuit, a sold-out crowd was treated to the breathtaking talents of headliner and blues/pop veteran Bonnie Raitt, accompanied by R&B/blues powerhouse, James Hunter.

Raitt’s last local performance at the hall, almost exactly two years ago to the date of this current show, found the flame-haired singer apologizing throughout the night for the constant cough and vocal issues she was experiencing. As she swigged hot beverages and popped cough drops to counter the problem, she, as a longtime touring warrior and genuine professional, never missed a note or nuance in either her trademark strong, commanding vocal delivery or in her warm and slinky slide guitar playing.

This time, without a trace of any vocal ailments, Raitt and her exquisite five-piece band, on the penultimate stop of their current tour, were about as on the mark and tight as any one of the sometimes loud and raucous audience members in the seats could have asked for. Delivering a steady, two-hour dose of the type of melding of blues and pop music styles Raitt has perfected since her debut album’s release, nearly half a century ago, the longtime professional injected her brand of humor, optimism, and feel-good vibes into the program, thanks to the music she performed and her between-song addresses to the crowd.

Making the fondness she holds for the local music hall known, Raitt made mention of her gratefulness for the way the performance venue was built: “I love how this hall is banked so steep! I can hear you, see you, and feel you!” the singer proclaimed, for which she was met with enthusiastic applause. Raitt has played this venue on multiple occasions in the past and has sold it out to its capacity on every visit. Based on what she gives to her audiences while performing, both in musical prowess and human and relatable interaction, it’s easy to see why audiences keep coming back.

Kicking things off in high gear, Raitt opened her set with “I Sho Do,” a soul song co-written by Teenie Hodges, the late songwriter and former lead guitarist for R&B legend Al Green. Raitt recorded the song as part of her 1994 album, Longing in Their Hearts, and it served as a perfect vehicle to quickly show off that her, husky voice and to give any unknowing patrons a sampling of her sharp and slick slide-playing. Shifting gears, as she so eloquently and tastefully has done for the better part of her career, Raitt then eased her way into the swampy, loping blues of “God Was in the Water,” from her 2005 release, Souls Alike, which perfectly displayed one of the many reasons her fiercely loyal audience has followed her for so long; Raitt is an artist who thrives on stretching out musically, and paying her respects to the wide palette of styles and genres she admires and feels a kinship with.

Wisely surrounding herself with musicians who share her sheer professionalism and musicianship. Raitt benefits from having folks like esteemed session guitarist Duke Levine by her side, and former Beach Boys drummer (and member of The Rutles, the mock band modeled after The Beatles), Ricky Fataar, keeping the beat. However, the longest-standing member of her band is dynamic bassist Hutch Hutchinson, who has been in Raitt’s band for over 40 years. Each musician stood out in their own right and supplemented the warm, cozy sounds Raitt poured out all night, which made for a night of great sounds and fine displays of raw talent.

Raitt’s knack for wisely and expertly tempering the flow of her performances is almost as fascinating as what she’s able to naturally exude through her musical chops. The mixing of deeper album cuts, or covers, with her more well-known pop hits (many of which came after her late-’80s resurgence, following her blockbuster album Nick of Time), is somewhat brilliant in how it keeps all audience members, from the diehards to the more casual fans, rapt and anxious to see where she’ll go next. As soon as the opening chords of “Thing Called Love,” the bawdy John-Hiatt penned romp that served as the lead single for the Nick of Time album, were cranked, a huge wave of applause and vocal approval came from the audience. Playing the song with every ounce of enthusiasm and sass as she has since the song helped catapult her to newfound fame and (long-deserved) mainstream attention, Raitt seemed downright joyous to provide the crowd with a distraction from the ills of the world for a while.

“Let’s get some civility in the world, and some peace” the singer pleaded during one of her more solemn and hopeful between-song messages of the night, a statement that was met with wide approval. Lamenting on lives lost and absent friends, Raitt remembered some of her musical collaborators and cohorts who are no longer among us. She made her admiration for, and the sorrow she still feels following the 2020 death of folk/country troubadour John Prine—who kept a house in nearby Gulfport—known throughout the night. Prine, a renowned and revered singer and songwriter, is responsible for writing one of the first songs for which Raitt earned her earliest acclaim, “Angel From Montgomery,” after she recorded her version of it in 1974.

Further displaying her love of music of all styles, Raitt also called out the losses of reggae legend Toots Hibbert (from Toots and the Maytals fame), and Oliver Mtukudzi, an afro-jazz musician and activist from Zimbabwe with whom she’d collaborated in the past. Performing his composition “Hear Me Lord,” Raitt introduced it as a gospel song and asked for audience participation, which she easily wrangled, for the song’s memorable chorus.

Joking about her age, and the fact that she’s still out on the road, Raitt, who celebrated her 75th birthday a few weeks ago, referred to performing as being in her blood and her genes. “My dad stayed on the road ‘til he was 85. The only reason why he stopped was because his audience passed away,” she joked while remembering her father, performer and star of stage and screen, John Raitt.

For her encore, Raitt provided what was probably the ultimate highlight of the program. Sitting on a stool at the center of the stage, and without her trusty Fender Stratocaster guitar in hand, she delivered her most soaring vocal performance of the night when she dug deep and squeezed every bit of emotion she could muster for a show-stopping reading of “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” the tender ballad from her 1991 platinum-selling album, Luck of the Draw. It’s easy to presume that, if anyone in the venue might have still been unsure of Raitt’s charisma and appeal, this was undoubtedly the moment in which any of those notions were easily dispelled.

Wrapping up the night with “Never Make a Move Too Soon,” a bold blues rocker most-closely associated with late blues legend B.B. King, Raitt gave each of her stupendous band members an opportunity to shine individually by allowing them to take smart, tasteful solos which punctuated the rollocking number. She also asked the night’s opener, James Hunter, to join the band onstage for her closing number, to inject some rousing harmonica work into the night’s final song.

Hunter was met with his own well-earned ovation, thanks to the 45-minute set he warmed the crowd with, prior to the headliner taking the stage. Known for his steeped-in-tradition approach to soul, R&B, blues, and doo-wop, Hunter is every bit the musical chameleon his touring mate is. The British-born singer/songwriter/guitarist seems to have been plucked from another era, based on his musical style and perspective. Once a touring member of Van Morrison’s band, Hunter broke out on his own with his first U.S. released solo album, People Gonna Talk, in 2006, and has been touring and releasing stellar albums ever since.

Widely unknown to this audience, based on chatter heard around the seats prior to his taking the stage, it didn’t take long for Hunter and his no-nonsense band, The James Hunter Six, to make fans of the unknowing patrons. Boasting two sax players, a stand-up bassist, organist and drummer, Hunter’s nattily dressed band looked almost as cool as they sounded. Cramming in 13 songs for his set, Hunter easily navigated through a multitude of genres thanks to a set list that consisted of album tracks from his lengthy repertoire, some covers, and some as-of-yet unreleased songs that are due to appear on his next studio album.

Looking more like a pool hall hustler than a killer R&B musician, Hunter, clad in gray suit, and black shirt, truly looks and sounds like he stepped out of another era. His pure, unadulterated soulful croon on “I Can Change Your Mind” from his 2020 album Nick of Time (a title he mentioned as one he coincidentally shares with the night’s headliner) is reason enough to believe that Hunter is the real deal. Not so much a revivalist, as a bona fide admirer and lover of good, traditional soul music, Hunter is a gift to the cause, and a welcomed bearer of the torch for keeping one of the greatest genres of music alive and well.

His true moment of awe came when he tackled “Baby Don’t Do It,” the 1953 tune originally recorded by American R&B group, The “5” Royales. Crediting the group for inventing soul music, Hunter delivered a scintillating version of the classic, thanks to his towering vocals, which brought to mind the stylings of some of his musical forefathers, Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson, while adding his own tasty blues guitar licks throughout. Pretty staggering stuff, which was happily welcomed by the somewhat unexpecting audience. Adding covers by other luminaries like blues legend Clarence Gatemouth Brown and smooth R&B crooner Percy Mayfield, Hunter, like Raitt, did a fine job of mixing his own material with selections from the songbooks of other artists, and did so in fine style.

One of his as-of-yet-released selections entitled “Off the Fence” somehow managed to smartly mix gritty soul music with a samba beat, and the result was quite sumptuous, making his next release something to look forward to.

Based on the warm and hearty reaction Hunter and his band received, it’s safe to say that this audience will not only be awaiting his next recorded work but will more than likely be in attendance the next time he graces a local stage with his charismatic presence.

About The Author

Gabe Echazabal

I was born on a Sunday Morning. I soon received The Gift of loving music. Through music, I Found A Reason for living. It was when I discovered rock and roll that I Was Beginning To See The Light.
Because through music, I’m Set Free. It’s always helped me keep my Head Held High.
When I started dancing to that fine, fine music, my life was saved by Rock And Roll.
I’ll love it until the day I Ride Into The Sun….and That’s The Story Of My Life…