Bonnie Raitt Tour

Bonnie's work and playing has always been grounded in the Blues.  She first appeared on the radar when she and her brother backed up Mississippi Fred McDowell at the 1970 Newport Folk Festival.  She has proven equally adept at writing and interpreting Folk, Pop, and other American Roots Music, but at her core, she's is a Blues musician.  B.B. King once called her the greatest living slide guitarist. As she ages, maybe she will return to more acoustic work?  It seemed to serve the older Bluesmen and Blueswomen of the 1960s Blues Revival era well.

She is also considered one of our greatest interpreters of other artists works.  Her versions of Been Too Long At The Fair, Women Be Wise, and especially Under The Falling Sky, from Give It Up are all top-shelf.  Her cover of Fred McDowell's Kokomo on her debut, or of NRBQ's Me And The Boys off her overlooked 1982 album Green Light, are stellar.

She has always carried the torch for Social Justice and Environmental Activism.  I still recall her involvement in the movement to preserve the Headwaters Forest from the years I lived in Humboldt County.  She walks the talk.

Those pictures of her and Jerry so obviously clicking are a little bittersweet.  That was a moment when both of them were finding sobriety and experiencing career renaissance.  She credited seeing Stevie Ray Vaughan performing at a higher level once he got clean and sober as the breakthrough moment for her to confront her own addictions and dependencies.  She hooked up with Don Was to produce her commercial breakthrough records Nick Of Time, Luck Of The Draw, and Longing In Their Hearts, maintained her sobriety and has gone on to a long and fruitful career.  It's a pity that Jerry couldn't make that transition.

As much as I love the Cuthbert, I'm leaning towards trying to find a ticket to see her here in Seattle.  I've had luck showing up at Chateau St. Michelle before and scoring tickets.  It's not as spectacular a venue as the Cuthbert, but it will do, and I won't have to drop the money for the two tanks of gas to get to and from Eugene.

I've seen Bonnie a couple of times; once at Wolf Trap Farm Park's Filene Center in Vienna, Virginia in the early 90s (a hot show, with a great opening set from local hero Nils Lofgren), and, more recently, at the 2019 New Orleans Jazz Fest (where she was just getting back on her feet after some health issues, and still sounded great).  I am hoping very much that I can see her on this tour.