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Bonnie Raitt leaves SOEC crowd mesmerized

on September 23, 2023 No comments

The highly-anticipated Bonnie Raitt show in Pentiton easily lived up to its expectations.

The 13-time Grammy Award winner played to a sold-out South Okanagan Events Centre, Friday, combining a greatest hits show with numbers from her most recent album, Just Like That, winner of three Grammys at the 2023 ceremony in February.

Backed by four musicians with a playing time of one hour, 50 minutes, what sticks out in my mind was how well behaved — almost subdued — the audience was. Opening act, Royal Wood, had the undivided attention of the audience, something rare for an opener. When Raitt took the stage at 9 p.m., there wasn’t much singing, dancing and unnecessary chatter, the crowd seemed mesmerized.

It’s not that they weren’t appreciative. The 73-year old Raitt, received five standing ovations, the first came before she played a single note.

She made references to political issues including praise for Canadians on truth and reconciliation. She had a flag of the Ukraine on stage lending her support to the people of the Ukraine. She quipped about “the election” in the States. Some forget that Raitt, before she became a household name, was better known for her activism in the late 1970s than her music (No Nukes with Jackson Browne and others.)

Much of the night’s material came from Nick of Time, her 1989 comeback which was her tenth studio album. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts at the time of hiphop, grunge and boy bands. She was hardly an overnight sensation.

Unfortunately for Raitt, Nick of Time won the Album of the Year Grammy for producer Don Was in the same year that Milli Vanilli won Best New Artist. No explanation required.

Back to Friday’s show.

Raitt handed out praise for many of her collaborators, mainly John Prine, who died of COVID during the early days of the pandemic and “my favourite Canadian” Shirley Eikhard, who wrote Raitt’s biggest chart success Something to Talk About. (Eikhard died last December of cancer at age 67.)

That song came surprisingly early in the night as she saved her signature song (for die-hard Bonnie Raitt fans) Angel From Montgomery by Prine, a song you never get tired of hearing, until the end of the show.

As one of three encores, she invited Royal Wood back on stage (nice touch) for a song by another Canadian, Lovers in the Dangerous Time by Bruce Cockburn. Awesome!

She even hinted that she’d like to return to Penticton. According to a website of set lists, her performance in Penticton ran overtime from others earlier in the tour.

As for Wood’s set, although extremely mellow, the Toronto musician has a beautiful voice, is a good storyteller and was accompanied by three skilled musicians.

For those who missed Friday’s show, Wood will be playing solo at The Dream Café in the New Year. As for Raitt, to have a better idea of the quality of her live shows, check out her 1995 live album Road Tested.

The Canadian leg of the Just Like That tour now moves to Alberta and Saskatchewan for a series of dates before closing at Massey Hall in Toronto on Oct. 6.

Source: © Copyright Penticton Herald

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Bonnie Raitt may be best known for slide, but she’s an expert fingerpicker, too
and her Americana-indebted style will improve your acoustic playing

on September 6, 2023 No comments

By Stuart Ryan ( Guitar Techniques )

In this video and tab lesson, we unpack the acoustic fingerstyle approach of one of America’s great songwriters, and give you ideas for how to embellish chords and use inversions.

A legend in the worlds of roots, blues, folk and Americana, US artist Bonnie Raitt was rewarded for her songwriting with the 2023 Grammy for Best Song for her track Just Like That (beating Harry Styles, Adele and Beyoncé).

Certain factions of the British press subsequently embarrassed themselves by asking who this ‘unknown blues singer’ was – as it happens, Raitt has actually won 13 Grammys over her 50-year career. Commercial acclaim has not evaded her either, and she was already well known for her powerful reading of I Can’t Make You Love Me, Nick of Time and many more.

Raitt was born in Burbank, California in 1949 and grew up in a musical family. She took up guitar aged eight and taught herself to play the instrument, inspired by the Folk Revival artists of the late 1950s. After a few years studying at Harvard University, she moved to Philadelphia where she began to pursue music seriously.

It didn’t take long for Raitt’s considerable talents to be discovered, and by 1970 she was performing with blues legend Mississippi Fred McDowell. The following year she was signed by Warner Bros records who released her eponymous debut in 1971. While acclaim followed quickly, sales were harder to come by and for much of the 1970s commercial success eluded her.

However, when she met Lowell George in the late 1970s she quickly became influenced by the Little Feat legend’s slide playing and adopted the use of a guitar slide herself.

A heavier, R&B sound ensued and some commercial success finally arrived with the release of 1977’s Sweet Forgiveness. However, it wouldn’t be until her 10th album, 1989’s Nick Of Time that she saw real commercial success and a USA chart-topping album.

Raitt is most commonly associated with her stunning slide playing but she is really a multi-faceted guitarist with a mastery of rootsy, folksy fingerpicking. This month’s study takes a look at how she uses drop D tuning to create textural parts with alternate picking on the bassnotes and the type of rich open chords that are common to that other American legend, Bruce Springsteen.

When it comes to acoustic playing Raitt can go from aggressive, Skip James influenced blues to more gentle self-accompaniment, as is the case with our piece below.

As with many guitarists from the Folk Revival of the 1950s and 1960s she performs with the classic folk style – this means fingerpicks and a thumbpick, the thumb playing alternating basslines over sixth and fourth strings, and the first, second and third fingers taking care of third, second and first strings respectively.

The acoustic guitar is usually used as an accompaniment to her unmatched vocals so expect rolling, arpeggiated picking patterns along with those rich-sounding chord voicings mentioned earlier.

Get the tone

Amp settings: Gain 3, Bass 7, Middle 6, Treble 7, Reverb 2

Bonnie has been using a Guild F-50 jumbo since 1975, but as our picture shows she can stray to smaller-bodied instruments, too. Any acoustic will work well for this style, though a larger guitar will give more volume and projection. Finger and thumbpicks provide more attack but that’s a whole other discipline. I used an Alvarez Masterworks acoustic for the recording.

Playing notes

[Bars 1-16] Don’t forget to tune your sixth string down to D before starting. At the heart of this approach is the alternating bassline between the sixth and fourth strings, and if this is new try cycling bar 1 for a while so the thumb can get used to the pattern.

Then acquaint yourself with the chord shapes as most of the embellishments are built around these. Don’t rush though, as it will affect your tempo and make you power through the beat too quickly.

[Bars 17-32] Adding melodic ideas up on the first and second strings is a common technique in roots, Americana and folk playing. It works particularly well in drop D tuning, as you contrast the low-end weight of the alternating bassline with melodic ideas on the treble strings.

Also check out how artists like Raitt and Bruce Springsteen use inversions of simple open chord shapes to bring more movement and interest to a progression.

About The Author

Stuart Ryan

Guitar Techniques

Stuart Ryan is best known for his acoustic guitar playing, from Celtic fingerpicking and traditional folk to modern percussive phrasing and fresh interpretations of popular pieces. He has released several solo albums, written pieces for UK examination boards and created nine tutorial books ranging from acoustic guitar arrangements to Americana styles.

Source: © Copyright Guitar World – Guitar Techniques

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“Bonnie allows you to play what you feel and solo the way you like – there’s room for that, and it’s really refreshing”
Meet Duke Levine, the latest guitar ace in Bonnie Raitt’s formidable live lineup

on September 2, 2023 No comments

By Bob Hewitt ( Guitarist )

A player who found his thrill on the Telecaster, Levine is a fine instrumentalist in his own right, who has honed his chops with a number of major artists – not least Otis Rush

Bonnie Raitt has been a constant presence on the international music scene for over 50 years, collaborating with many – from Sippie Wallace to Mavis Staples, John Lee Hooker to John Prine – and boasts a long list of best-selling albums, with 13 Grammy Awards from 30 nominations to her name, as well as the honour of receiving the Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2022. Not bad for someone who was discounted earlier this year as “an unknown blues singer” by a certain UK tabloid…

Her own core band has been by her side for over 30 years, including guitarist and sometimes co-writer George Marinelli, Ricky Fataar on drums and James ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson on bass, while keyboard player Glenn Patscha joined the band a few years back in 2018. When George Marinelli decided to take a break from touring, Boston-based guitarist Duke Levine stepped up seamlessly into the role.

Getting His Groove

Having grown up in a house full of musical siblings during the ’60s, Duke’s history with the guitar is a long one. “I have three older brothers and a sister, so I benefited from their record collections,” he tells us over the phone from a tour in Hawaii, “and a lot of it was good stuff: The Beatles, Stones, The Band, Paul Butterfield – but also Merle Haggard and Doc Watson.

“[My older brothers] all played guitars, so they showed my sister and I some chords to get us going – and at the same time my brother Rick had a country rock band that rehearsed at our house most every day, so that was pretty cool to experience.”

As time progressed, Duke extended his musical tastes, listening to the Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, Little Feat, Ry Cooder and, ironically, Bonnie Raitt. He also expanded his interest in jazz music.

By the time he was 14, Duke had taken on a part-time job in a local guitar store near his home in Worcester, Massachusetts, and he also took the opportunity to study with a guitar teacher, the brilliant jazz guitarist Rich Falco who instilled a love for jazz standards that would stand Duke in good stead for his future ambitions and virtuosity.

Duke went on to study at the world-renowned New England Conservatory Of Music in Boston, and following graduation took a dive into the deep end by hooking up with blues legend Otis Rush for a European tour.

“I always feel I had no business playing alongside Otis Rush at that age,” Duke admits. “I just wish I’d known as much about him then as I do now. Otis was super-gracious, really cool and had a great rhythm section. It was one of those things whereby the piano player put the touring band together, and we did the European circuit of festivals like Montreux, North Sea and all that. It was the most amazing experience for me.”

Tours followed with Leon Thomas, ‘the John Coltrane of jazz vocalists’, and jazz drummer Bob Moses in the band Mozamba before Duke joined Boston rockers The Del Fuegos on tour and began to explore the city’s session scene during the early ’90s.

“There were so many singers and songwriters around Boston in those days,” says Duke. “People were moving in from outside the area to be in Cambridge [Massachusetts] because it was such a cool scene. Producers needed musicians to make records, so it was a great time to be right there and involved.

“I also met my friend Mason Daring, who’s a film composer, and started working with him on a bunch of movie sets he was scoring [including John Sayles’ Lone Star, Passion Fish, Sunshine State and Limbo]. This was a really important time for me because he ended up putting out my first three records on his label – Nobody’s Home [1992], Country Soul Guitar [1994] and Lava [1997]. About this same time, there was still a little bit of jingle and advertisement business, too, so it was a busy time to be working around there.”

Duke continued his band and touring work during this time, playing with major label folk-rock duo The Story, which also connected him with five-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter, with whom he played until the early 2000s. He then joined The J Geils Band’s Peter Wolf in the studio and on stage until he got the call from Bonnie Raitt.

There’s a ton of personality in George’s playing, and we’re pretty different as players, but I love learning what he did

Raitt Hand Man

“It’s been a trip,” says Duke, who started rehearsals back in January 2022. “Everyone has been so appreciative and supportive, welcoming the way someone new plays. It was a little daunting to come in after George [Marinelli] who has been with Bonnie for 30 years, but it’s such a great band with Ricky [Fataar, drummer] and Hutch [bassist James Hutchinson] who have been there even longer. I’ve learned a lot and I love playing alongside these guys.

“Bonnie allows you to play what you feel and solo the way you like – it’s never been a case of the artist wanting you to play the exact same thing every night – so there’s room for that, and it’s really refreshing. There’s a ton of personality in George’s playing, and we’re pretty different as players, but I love learning what he did.

“All that being said, Bonnie was very welcoming and realised that we’re not the same players with the same sound. For about half of the 2022 tour dates, it was the two of us in the band together, and it was great because I love playing alongside George. It was brilliant to see first hand the stuff that I’d be taking over on some of the songs. It was a real privilege to be on stage together – and I’ve made a great new friend.”

When it comes to tools of the trade, Duke is devoted to his Telecasters. “My main guitar is a ’63 Tele and I use a ’53 relic as well on stage, as I’ve left my real ’53 at home,” he laughs. “My Telecaster is the guitar I can play [pretty much] anything on – and I feel I’ve developed a sound of my own to some degree with that guitar. All the other stuff is great, and I’ve got some nice Les Pauls, an Epiphone Casino and some Gretsches, too.

“It’s cool on a session to have a bunch of different guitars. But, more and more, I just feel it’s a distraction to have more than a couple of guitars on a gig. I do enjoy lap steel, too, for textural sounds when required – a friend got me into a cool tuning, so I’m working on that to figure out some cool licks.

“On the current tour, I have this Supro Dual-Tone that I love and I’ve had it for a long time,” he continues. “It’s kept in open tuning with heavy strings for a couple of tunes. I have a Strat, too, for a couple of things. But, really, the Tele is the guitar, and I can get whatever I need out of it. I also play mandolin and mandola on a couple of Bonnie’s songs.”

For his backline, it’s a British influence with a twist as Duke’s favourite guitar amp is a Blockhead – a copy of the early Marshall JTM45. But on this tour he’s opted for the real thing with a late-’70s Marshall JMP 50-watt master volume head, which fits in and suits the sound of the band, he says: “I’m just playing it through a 1×12 cab, which is isolated because we use in-ear monitors, and although my cab is on stage, it’s baffled so I don’t get it too much.”

As for pedals, Duke’s ’board includes a Mad Professor Royal Blue Overdrive, the Jam Rattler overdrive and Jam Harmonious Monk harmonic tremolo pedal, plus a T.Rex Replica and Source Audio delay pedal. There’s also the Ethos TWE-1 from Vermont-based Custom Tones, who created a pedal based on Ken Fischer’s famed Trainwreck amplifier.

Instrumental Moves

When he finds time between his busy touring commitments, Duke performs instrumental arrangements with his band, the Super Sweet Sounds Of The 70s, alongside longtime friend and Berklee College assistant professor Kevin Barry, who has recorded with Paula Cole, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Susan Tedeschi, and played with Ray LaMontagne and Rosanne Cash.

I always wanted to have tunes that were just more melody based – instrumental guitar music without having all the licks

Finally, there’s Duke’s solo instrumental work, on which you’ll hear the hi-fidelity sounds and tones he created for albums such as 2016’s The Fade Out. “I loved Hank Marvin on those Shadows records, so there could well be an unconscious influence for my instrumental recordings. But my early records had a lot of picking on them and country stuff as I was eager to show off what I could do as a younger person.

“I think at a certain point, even then, I always wanted to have tunes that were just more melody based – instrumental guitar music without having all the licks – so on my last couple of records, I think we’re more in that direction.”