THE SHOW: Bonnie Raitt, Tuesday night, May 12,at the Majestic Theatre,San Antonio, Texas.
ATTENDANCE: About 1,800
FIRST TAKE: Bonnie Raitt and her band dug in and served up playful and serious blues, funky R&B, reggae and more for a most appreciative crowd. Raitt dedicated the show to the memory of her friend Stephen Bruton, the guitar ace, singer, producer and songwriter who died of cancer over the weekend.
But the set was upbeat and driving as she and the smoking band worked through songs including “I Sho Do,” “Thing Called Love,” “One Belief Away,” “Good Man, Good Woman” (a duet with keyboard player Ricky Peterson), “Love Me Like a Man” (with special guest Johnny Nicholas on harmonica) and “Angel from Montgomery.”
Raitt is one of the most engaging artists around. When she takes a stage, every venue is a friendly front porch. The Majestic was a fancy, friendly front porch on Tuesday.
FOR STARTERS: “That was a killer set,” Raitt said about the Paul Thorn Band’s opening set. She told the truth. Tupelo, Miss.-based singer and songwriter Thorn and his band fired up the crowd with a 40-minute set that rocked with plenty of grease, grit and songs such as “A Long Way From Tupelo,” “Rise Up,” “Burn Down the Trailer Park” and a rousing “Mission Temple Fireworks Stand.”
Bonnie Raitt performs at the Majestic Theatre.
Bonnie Raitt performs at the Majestic Theatre, Tuesday, May 12, 2009.
Here is an excellent audience capture of Bonnie at the Majestic Theater. This theater has definately better than average acoustics. She sounded great this tuesday evening, or “schoolnight” as Bonnie mentioned. She has a top notch band and sound. The crowd was enthusiastic and well behaved. We really enjoyed this show, and hope you do as well.
Setlist: I Sho Do Thing Called Love One Belief Away Good Man, Good Woman Your Good Thing (Is About to End) Premature I Feel So Damn Good (I’ll Be Glad When I Get The Blues) Love Me Like A Man (with Johnny Nicholas) Papa Come Quick Angel from Montgomery I Will Not Be Broken Something To Talk About Never Make Your Move Too Soon (with Johnny Nicholas) I Believe I’m In Love With You (with Johnny Nicholas) I Can’t Make You Love Me —Bonnie talks about Stephen Bruton Too Many Memories Love Sneaking Up On You
A day after her former guitar player and friend of 38 years, Stephen Bruton, passed away, Bonnie Raitt ended her pre-encore set at Bass Concert Hall by thanking the audience for being there. “I’ve been crying all day and I never thought I’d get through this show.’ she said.
She finally broke down in tears after encoring with one of Bruton’s songs, ‘Too Many Memories (For One Heart To Hold).’ The redhead sang it beautifully with tears streaming down her cheeks near the end. A dry eye? Not in this house.
here are those moments and they just never fade
Like the look in her eyes and the way the light played
God moved in that moment and the angels all cried
And they gave you a memory that you’ll have till you die
Now the lesson you learned and you don’t dare forget
What makes you grow old is replacing hope with regret
It was an emotional night and a special one, with the crowd of about 2,300 leaping to their feet after “Angel From Montgomery” (dedicated to Bruton’s wife Mary and mother Kathleen) and stomping along with Raitt and guest Kim Wilson (Fabulous Thunderbirds) on “I Believe I’m In Love With You.” Then, on ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me,’ Raitt aired it out with such pure and powerful purpose that the crowd was overwhelmed by the moment.
Stephen Bruton one of Austin’s best guitar players passes away
5/9/2009 By: News 8 Austin Staff
Stephen Bruton passed away Saturday morning in Los Angeles after a long fight with cancer. He leaves a legacy as both a singer and songwriter, but also a bit of a renaissance man in the music industry.
“He was a musician, a mentor, a gentleman, a producer, a true Texas gentleman,” News 8’s Music Correspondent Andy Langer said. “He was a guy who grew up in Fort Worth, grew up in a record shop and immediately recognized music as his calling.”
Bruton is regarded as one of Austin’s best guitarists and he played a role in a lot other local performers’ success as well.
The musician and music producer worked with artists like Alejandro Escovedo, Marcia Ball, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Hal Ketchum, Storyville, Chris Smither and Bonnie Raitt.
News 8’s Victor Diaz and Andy Langer have more on the legacy Bruton leaves behind.
Stephen and I met when I opened for Kris Kristofferson at the U. of M, Ann Arbor back in 1971. We bonded immediately and grew even closer over the years, hanging at gigs, in Woodstock, LA, Austin and on the road. He has always been one of my closest friends, in music and in sharing our personal lives. We partied together, got sober around the same time and it’s nearly impossible to imagine my life without him.
As a musician, he was one of the deepest, most intuitive, versatile and unique I’ve known. In both his songwriting, which stands alongside the best, and his incredible guitar playing. He truly was a musicians’ musician, vastly underrated but hugely influential to everyone lucky enough to call him friend. I also loved him singing his own songs. His legendary sense of humor, wit, loyalty and generosity as a friend have always been what’s so special about him as well. There’s no one I would rather get into mischief with, and I sometimes couldn’t even look over at him on stage without him cracking me up. He just brought me so much joy, as he did to everyone who knew or heard him. And we got each other through some of our darkest times, of which there have been many.
I will miss him and treasure his place in my heart and music every day of my life. I just hope I get to meet up with him again, and he’ll be playing with Lowell, Stevie Ray and all the others we lost way too soon.
— Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt Tour 2006
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Stephen Bruton Epiphany Interview by Elise Ballard
Stephen Bruton was a prolific songwriter, singer, recording artist, and Grammy-nominated record producer who worked and collaborated with Bonnie Raitt, Christine McVie, Kris Kristofferson, Elvis Costello, Carly Simon, Eric Clapton, Alejandro Escovedo, T. Bone Burnett and The Wallflowers among others. Notable artists that have recorded his songs include Raitt, Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Patty Loveless and Martina McBride. He was a founding member of the band The Resentments and has several solo albums out with the record label, New West. His last projects included the collaboration with Grammy-Award Winner, T. Bone Burnett, as a music producer and composer on the soundtrack for the Jeff Bridges’ movie, Crazy Heart (2010) and sessions for Kristofferson’s album “Starlight and Stone”.
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