Blues diva Bonnie Raitt’s performance at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans on Saturday night (Nov. 5) was impeccable. Her voice was clear and penetrating, yet emotionally quavering. Her electric slide guitar was sharp yet supple, her acoustic picking and strumming were precise. And her gracious persona made the huge Italianate auditorium seem intimate.
In the course of the night, Raitt thanked dozens of fellow musicians and others for their inspiration or support. Among the mentioned were: Quint Davis, John Hiatt, Allen Toussaint, B.B. King, Little Feat, Ivan Neville, Tracy Chapman, Chaka Kahn, the bus drivers, the truck drivers, the lighting designers and the sound crew.
Speaking of the sound crew: Thanks to their nuanced approach, the listening experience Saturday was uncluttered by echo and the inherent roar of clumsy over-amplification.
Early in the show, Raitt confided to the audience that she has a birthday coming up on election day (Nov. 8) and she made her apprehensions about the outcome clear.
Bonnie Raitt performs during her Dig in Deep Tour at The Saenger Theatre on Saturday, November 5, 2016.
Bonnie Raitt performs during her Dig in Deep Tour at The Saenger Theatre on Saturday, November 5, 2016.
Bonnie Raitt performs during her Dig in Deep Tour at The Saenger Theatre on Saturday, November 5, 2016.
Bonnie Raitt performs during her Dig in Deep Tour at The Saenger Theatre on Saturday, November 5, 2016.
The crowd arrives at The Saenger Theatre for the Bonnie Raitt Dig in Deep Tour on Saturday, November 5, 2016.
Bonnie Raitt performs during her Dig in Deep Tour at The Saenger Theatre on Saturday, November 5, 2016.
Bonnie Raitt performs during her Dig in Deep Tour at The Saenger Theatre on Saturday, November 5, 2016.
Bonnie Raitt performs during her Dig in Deep Tour at The Saenger Theatre on Saturday, November 5, 2016.
Bonnie Raitt performs during her Dig in Deep Tour at The Saenger Theatre on Saturday, November 5, 2016.
The California Honeydrops open for Bonnie Raitt at The Saenger Theatre on Saturday, November 5, 2016. The funk band formed in November 2007 in the subway stations of Oakland California.
The California Honeydrops open for Bonnie Raitt at The Saenger Theatre on Saturday, November 5, 2016. The funk band formed in November 2007 in the subway stations of Oakland California.
Out of respect for the artist a blurred set list rests on the sound board at Bonnie Raitt's Dig in Deep Tour at The Saenger Theatre on Saturday, November 5, 2016.
The Saenger Theatre hosted Bonnie Raitt performing her Dig in Deep Tour on Saturday, November 5, 2016.
The Saenger Theatre in New Orleans hosted Bonnie Raitt performing her Dig in Deep Tour on Saturday, November 5, 2016.
Politics aside, her impending 67th birthday seemed to produce a touch of wistfulness in the sublime singer. Time and again, she referenced the passing of the decades. She described herself as “a full grown dog” and thanked the audience for sticking with her since her career began in the 1970s.
Raitt noted that she hopes to continue performing for as long as possible. Her dad, Broadway star John Raitt, she said, was on stage until he was 86, as was one of her blues heroes Sippie Wallace. And “just look at Tony Bennett,” she said.
The set included several songs from her 2016 album “Dig in Deep,” which was said to be, in part, a reflection on the passing of her parents and brother. The sweet melancholy of many of her selections and comments probably struck a chord with the silver-haired folk that made up the majority of her audience.
Heaven knows, youth is glorious and superior in every way … except perhaps where concert etiquette is concerned. Raitt’s audience remained seated through most of the show, allowing fans, even those in the back of the auditorium, a clear view of the stage. When she played poppy numbers such as “Something to Talk About,” dancing spilled into the aisles. But when Raitt performed subtler songs, her audience was respectfully rapt.
At the conclusion of Raitt’s fragile ballad “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” at least one woman in the audience wept.
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Jazz and blues fests are everywhere now, and Americana is going strong on college radio. What I'm hearing is an appreciation of real music.
Bonnie Raitt
I speak my mind and come from a place of conscience, as well as have fun as a musician.
Bonnie Raitt
I don't know if I'm a heroine; I'm just somebody that can cheer the troops by singing to folks, and have receptions after the show, and tithe a dollar of every ticket sale for all kinds of different great charities and social action groups.
Bonnie Raitt
Quakers are known for wanting to give back. Ban the bomb and the civil rights movement and the native American struggle for justice - those things were very, very front-burner in my childhood, as were the ideas of working for peace and if you have more than you need, then you share it with people who don't.
Bonnie Raitt
The consolidation of the music business has made it difficult to encourage styles like the blues, all of which deserve to be celebrated as part of our most treasured national resources.
Bonnie Raitt
I think my fans will follow me into our combined old age. Real musicians and real fans stay together for a long, long time.
Bonnie Raitt
I grew up in Los Angeles in a Quaker family, and for me being Quaker was a political calling rather than a religious one.
Bonnie Raitt
I just play the music that I love with musicians that I respect, and fortunately, I'm in a position where people are willing to play with me, and perhaps I can do something to help them.
Bonnie Raitt
I never saw music in terms of men and women or black and white. There was just cool and uncool.
Bonnie Raitt
Solar power is the last energy resource that isn't owned yet - nobody taxes the sun yet.
Bonnie Raitt
Religion is for those who are scared of hell, and spirituality is for those who have been there.
Bonnie Raitt
Life gets mighty precious when there's less of it to waste.
Bandana Blues is and will always be a labor of love. Please help Spinner deal with the costs of hosting & bandwidth. Visit www.bandanablues.com and hit the tipjar. Any amount is much appreciated, no matter how small. Thank you.
Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, Vol. 2, the anticipated new John Prine tribute record from Oh Boy Records, is out today. Stream/purchase HERE.
Created as a celebration of Prine’s life and career, the album features new renditions of some of Prine’s most beloved songs performed by Brandi Carlile (“I Remember Everything”), Tyler Childers (“Yes I Guess They Oughta Name A Drink After You”), Iris DeMent (“One Red Rose”), Emmylou Harris (“Hello In There”), Jason Isbell (“Souvenirs”), Valerie June (“Summer’s End”), Margo Price (“Sweet Revenge”), Bonnie Raitt (“Angel From Montgomery”), Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats (“Pretty Good”), Amanda Shires (“Saddle in the Rain”), Sturgill Simpson(“Paradise”) and John Paul White (“Sam Stone”). Proceeds from the album will benefit twelve different non-profit organizations, one selected by each of the featured artists.
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Bonnie Raitt - Write Me a Few of Your Lines/Kokomo Blues
60 years anniversary celebration of Arhoolie
December 10, 2020
Arhoolie Foundation celebrates it's 60th anniversary (1960-2020) with an online broadcast.
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Bonnie Raitt - Shadow of Doubt
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
October 3, 2020
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass celebrates it's 20th anniversary with an online broadcast titled “Let The Music Play On”.
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Bonnie Raitt & Boz Scaggs - You Don't Know Like I Know
Farm Aid 2020 On the Road
Sam & Dave classic written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter.
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Sheryl Crow & Bonnie Raitt - Everything Is Broken
[Eric Clapton’s Crossroads 2019]
Eric Clapton, one of the world’s pre-eminent blues/rock guitarists, once again summoned an all-star team of six-string heroes for his fifth Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2019. Held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, the two-day concert event raised funds for the Crossroads Centre in Antigua, the chemical dependency treatment and education facility that Clapton founded in 1998.
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'A Tribute To Mose Allison'
Celebrates The Music Of An Exciting Jazz Master
Raitt contributed to a new album, If You're Going To The City: A Tribute To Mose Allison, which celebrates the late singer and pianist, who famously blended the rough-edged blues of the Mississippi Delta with the 1950s jazz of New York City.
NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to Bonnie Raitt about her friendship with the Mose Allison. They're also joined by Amy Allison — his daughter, who executive produced the album — about selecting an unexpected list of artists to contribute songs to the album.
Recorded on tour June 3, 2017 - Centennial Hall, London - Ontario Canada
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