AT 72, Bonnie Raitt shows no signs of slowing down
Recent releases from a couple of members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame are in the Ear Bliss spotlight this week. At 72 and what is planned to be a near full year of touring for 2022, the revered singer, songwriter and guitarist Bonnie Raitt shows no signs of slowing down. Oh yeah, she also has a brand new and quite excellent album out just recently. Just Like That is the name of that record and it is pure Raitt, a distillation of all the mighty talents she has displayed for some half a century now. Consistency in quality is often the name of the game in music and Raitt has been a poster model for that during her lengthy career. Joining the new Bonnie Raitt album in this week’s Ear Bliss feature is a new collection from the legendary R&B/rock vocalist and as mentioned, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member, Darlene Love. The Many Sides of Love - The Complete Reprise Recordings Plus! is a 15-track collection that captures Love’s work with the vocal groups The Blossoms and The Wildcats under the tutelage of the legendary producer Phil Spector, plus her own solo work. Let’s get to it.
Bonnie Raitt Just Like That… Red Wing Records
Now 18 studio albums into her career what with her new record called Just Like That…, the singer, songwriter and masterful guitarist Bonnie Raitt is, sorry to be cliché, aging like fine wine. Her first studio album since 2016’s Dig In Deep, this latest project over the course of its 10 tracks, including four composed by Raitt, finds the Rock
& Roll Hall of Fame member still at the top of her game as a singer, songwriter and musician delivering a varied palate of sounds from spirited rockers to bluesy numbers to singer/songwriter-oriented material and more. Much plays into the songs of the new album, including reflections on recent events and circumstances that have touched Raitt in one way or another such as the highly moving title track inspired by a local news story about the impact of two families on both sides of an organ donation and the equally touching “Down the Hall” which was triggered by a newspaper story Raitt read about a prison hospice program. There was also, of course, the trials and tribulations of the last few years in confronting a life-altering pandemic which for performing artists literally brought their careers to an abrupt halt. The rocker “Living for the Ones” which she co-wrote with her longtime guitarist George Marinelli is a fiery, rocking salute to the friends and family Raitt lost in recent years, including some to COVID. Raitt made the record in the summer of 2021 at a studio near her Northern California home with a cast of musicians who have been with her since the early aughts and at a point at which with vaccinations going strong and restaurants and venues beginning to open up after a year-plus shutdown it seemed the pandemic might finally be behind us. “I’ve always wanted to make a record here, and once vaccinations made traveling safe again, we were thrilled to get everyone back together,” says the ten-time Grammy winner. “I think the absolute joy and relief of reuniting to play live music is really palpable on this record.” There is certainly that and much more spewing from the grooves of Just Like That. Recommended. Visit www.bonnieraitt.com.
Darlene Love
The Many Sides of Love - The Complete Reprise Recordings Plus!
Real Gone/Second Records
Disc
It is certainly not a stretch to place the singer Darlene Love in a camp with some of the greatest R&B and rock vocalists ever. Classification as such was best demonstrated by the Oscar-winning 2013 documentary film “20 Feet from Stardom” which chronicled the lives of a collection of background singers, including Love, who arguably stole the show. Her credentials are plentiful in a career dating back to the early 1960s and her early career as a member of the vocal group The Crystals working with the legendary producer Phil Spector which yielded such hits as “He’s a Rebel” and “He’s Sure the Boy I Love” each featuring Love on lead vocals. It is shortly after that where the new collection The Many Sides of Love —The Complete Reprise Recordings Plus! begins. It is the starting point, not to mention the true gems, of this collection the highlights of which are its first eight tracks which are rare singles made in the mid1960s for the Reprise record label with the vocal groups The Blossoms and The Wildcats. Comprised of Love with Fanita James, Gloria A. Jones, and Nanette Williams all of whom would become some of Los Angeles’ most in-demand session singers, the ladies were certified pros when it came to vocalizing. Performing songs written by the likes of Lee Hazlewood, Van McCoy and David Gates, the tracks are the girl group sound at its catchiest and swankiest. The remaining tracks offer a broad swath of Love from early solo work to her 1983 smash “River Deep, Mountain High” which was the centerpiece of the Tony award-nominated jukebox musical Leader of the Pack in which she starred to a 2014 collaboration with Bette Midler on the song “He’s Sure the Boy I Love” from a Midler tribute album to girl groups. Those latter tracks are just icing on the cake after those Blossoms and Wildcats sides. Visit www.realgonemusic. com.
LIVE SHOTS:
With summer in full bloom, music is everywhere so get yourself out and enjoy it. Here in South County, there is no place more summer than The Ocean
Mist in Matunuck and probably no band says summer in Rhode Island more than John Caffery & The Beaver Brown Band. It touches down seaside at The Mist on Saturday evening. Monday night finds singer/songwriter Donavon Frankenreiter. And don’t forget Deer Tick weekend at The Mist performing July 15-17. For those who can’t get enough of their favorite music of the past, start planning for Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute band Sweet Hitchiker
on July 15 at the Courthouse Center for the Arts in West Kingston and the following evening, Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute act Sons of Skynyrd. Pump House Music Works
in Peace Dale (164 Kingstown Road) on Friday evening presents a terrific pairing of guitarists Willie J. Laws & Roberto Morbioli. Resin Ed with Undertow brings the tunes on Saturday before the Duke Robillard Band
closes out things with a late afternoon show on Sunday. The Charlestown Rathskeller (489A Old Coach Road, Charlestown) is a comfy place to be outdoors and listen to music. Rat favorites Take it to the Bridge lead the weekend off on Friday and and Justice closes things out with a Sunday afternoon show beginning at 4 pm. In Jamestown at The Narragansett Café, Neal & The Vipers plays the blues and more on Friday night. Rugburn Music brings the party to The Ganny on Saturday night before Professor Harp
delivers the blues on Sunday at 4 pm. A certified rock legend comes to The Greenwich Odeum on Main Street in East Greenwich on July 15 when it presents Todd Rundgren. The following evening, July 16, is equally as special when Steve Earle & The Dukes perform on the Odeum stage. In Westerly, the Knickerbocker Music Center presents an evening with Glenn Thomas & Wild Sun on Friday night. Someone You Can Xray with special guest Kala Farnham & Company are at The Knick on Saturday night. To the North, Chan’s Restaurant
in Woonsocket (267 Main Street) on Friday evening with Greg Piccolo & Heavy Juice dishing out the jazz and blues at 8 pm. Grammy-nominated
blues and soul singer
Janiva Magness comes to Chan’s on Saturday night for an 8 pm show. Also in Woonsocket, the Levitt AMP Woonsocket summer music series held weekly downtown at River Island Park continues
Steve Smith & the Naked Truth with The Lexies opening at 6 pm. The Psychedelic Furs brings its Made of Rain 2022 tour with very special guest X to The Strand in downtown Providence on Wednesday night. In the East Bay, the Newport Live music series continues at the Norman Bird Sanctuary with the singer/songwriter Mark Erelli and band performing on Friday evening at 7 pm. In Portsmouth next Thursday, do not miss Claudia Russell and Bruce Kaplan who join forces at the Thriving Tree Coffeehouse at 6 pm. Finally, mark the calendar for next Thursday, July 14, when the great Texas troubadour and tunesmith Robert Earl Keen brings his farewell tour to the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River.
Dan Ferguson is a freelance music writer and host of The Boudin Barndance, broadcast Thursday nights from 6 – 9 pm on WRIU-FM 90.3.