Bonnie Raitt
My favorite female musician
She is a terrific singer and a very, very good (under appreciated) guitar (mostly bottleneck) player.
The songs she chooses to cover are unfailing interesting, and she is comfortable in a variety of genres, from rock, blues, R&B, and pop.
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I became a fan when she released her second album in 1972, “Give it Up”.
For the next 17 years, she toiled as a critical favorite, with relatively low record sales. Then in 1989 she released “Nick of Time”, and became “an overnight” superstar, winning multiple Grammys.
This a live version of this song off her second album (“Give It Up”). It is a blues song, and it is assertively female. A lot of the black blues music was assertively male (“Mannish Boy” by Muddy Waters is the apex of maleness). Listen to the words. “He won’t put himself above me”, “…a man to take me home instead of taking me for a ride”, “rock me like my back ain’t got no bone”. Terrific guitar.
Here is Bonnie on Late Night with David Letterman.
She appears with Sippie Wallace, a black blues singer/songwriter, and a big influence on Bonnie. She covered two of Wallace’s songs on her first album and another on her second.
Here is Bonnie singing Wallace’s “You Go to Know How” . I really like this one. Nice lyrics and a fantastic New Orleans style arrangement.
“Love Has No Pride” is a straight ballad. Her singing is wonderful and heart felt.
“Give it Up or Let Me Go” was written by Bonnie. It also has a New Orleans feel with horns.
“Nothing Seems to Matter” is another penned by Bonnie.
Jumping ahead 17 years, here is the title song off the album that made her a star. “Nick of Time”.
“Thing Called Love” is also from this album.
“Angel From Montgomery” This is a live duet with John Prine, who wrote the song.
"How The Hell Can A Person Go To Work In The Morning, Come Home In The Evening and have Nothing To Say”. (By the way, John is barely recognizable after recovering from cancer (temporarily).)
“Just Like That” is a Grammy award winner from 2022.
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