Bonnie Raitt can’t be summed up easily. Some people might view her as a sassy blues singer, some as a no-nonsense social activist, and some as an observant balladeer who writes deeply serious songs such as “Nick of Time” (a 1990 Grammy winner about a woman wanting to get pregnant before it’s too late) and “Just Like That,” a stunning track about a heart transplant survivor that won a Grammy last year for song of the year.
It turns out, of course, that Raitt is all of the above and more. At this point in her life, she cannot be stereotyped.
“I don’t always just do blues or just do rock ‘n’ roll and up-tempo songs,” Raitt, 74, said in a recent phone interview ahead of her show at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway on June 15. “I think part of the reason I’ve lasted as long as I have … is pacing. It’s something I learned from watching my dad in those classic Rodgers and Hammerstein shows.”
As the daughter of Broadway star John Raitt, who starred in “Carousel” and “Oklahoma!,” Raitt talked about how those shows were presented. “They knew how to build the pacing, and how to set a beautiful song or a sadder song in the perfect place in the show. And I have about four different songs like that, which I have to nestle in my set. If you do them too soon, or too late in the set, or bunch some together, then energetically it doesn’t work. You have to honor the flow — and that’s the way I feel about all the songs I’ve written. I’ve written some rockers and some funky soul songs and reggae songs, but there’s a half-dozen at least emotional ballads that I’ve also written over the years.”
She put two of the serious ones on her last album “Just Like That,” including the title track and “Down the Hall,” a poignant reference to a prison hospice. Both are based on true events and “both are story songs,” said Raitt. “I was really inspired this time to write about someone else’s story. And I was directly inspired by John Prine. We do his ‘Angel From Montgomery’ every night and we know what a master he was of that form. … When I found some topics to write about in ‘Down the Hall’ and ‘Just Like That,’ I was so glad to be able to channel those.”
Raitt also marvels at how “Just Like That” prompted a new look at organ donation after she won the Grammy. She discovered a “bureaucratic quagmire” about how difficult it was to find matches for those surgical procedures. She said, “One of the things I’m most proud of was that Jill Biden gave me that [Grammy] onstage. It might have had an impact, because a couple of months later, Joe Biden announced there was an overhaul of organ donations. So I’m heartened by the fact that it will be different.”
Lest people think she’s getting too serious these days, Raitt just recorded a song with Little Feat’s Sam Clayton, “Long Distance Call.” It’s a sensuous blues tune that finds Raitt singing “One of these days I’m going to show you just how nice a woman can be.” And she just sang on a track for the upcoming 50th-anniversary album by rootsy road warriors the Fabulous Thunderbirds.
Given Raitt’s adventurous attitude both in the studio and on tour, she needs a band that can follow her increasingly diverse and complex styles. She has now released 21 albums since dropping out of Radcliffe to sign with Warner Bros. in 1970. That’s a lot of ground to cover.
She is particularly pleased to have added Boston guitarist Duke Levine to her group in the last couple of years. “He’s legendary among musicians as a guitarist. And it is so cool that he has played with Peter Wolf. His range and his tone and his passion for many different styles is [wonderful]. He plays with so much soul and pace. And I had no idea he could sing. I love playing with him.
“There was a short list of guitar players who could cover the range of what I do, because it’s really a broad range between R&B and Stones-y rock and funk and reggae and African and pop and Richard Thompson songs. You really have to know how to play. And when I found out Duke could also sing, he became my first choice. … The whole stack of people who are singing in this band now is really adding a lot of soul to the vocals.”
Levine, for his part, is ecstatic to have joined her group. He has played with many Boston acts such as J. Geils, Peter Wolf and the Midnight Travelers, Dennis Brennan, Tim Gearan, and Chris Cote — and toured nationally with Mary Chapin Carpenter. “I’m very lucky now to play with Bonnie,” he said. “She has been very gracious and welcoming. This has been more awesome than I thought it would be. Bonnie is one of the best singers in the world. Her voice has taken on an extra dimension and depth.”
Any return by Raitt to New England summons memories of her early days in Cambridge, when she hung out with fellow musicians Peter Johnson, Reeve Little, Peter Bell, and “Spider” John Koerner. They partied in local clubs, and Koerner’s Monday night shows at Jack’s, on Massachusetts Avenue, were the focal point. (Learning of Koerner’s death last month, she posted a eulogy on her website. “It seems like I find myself writing eulogies every couple of weeks about a crucial person in my life who has passed away,” Raitt said, referencing the likes of Jimmy Buffett, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, David Lindley, and David Crosby.)
She still loves returning to Cambridge from her home base in Los Angeles. “All these years since, I’ve tried to stay in Cambridge [when on tour] and ride my bike to Fresh Pond and along the Charles,” she said. “And all these decades later, I still enjoy going to Harvard Square.”
Remarkably, unlike some veteran artists, Raitt is still looking ahead in her career, not back. Asked about a bucket list of artists she might want to work with in the future, she said, “Oh my God, there are people whose voices I just adore and music that I love, like Habib Koité, from Mali; Paul Brady, from Ireland and one of my favorite singers ever; and my friend, Lizz Wright, who has a fantastic new album out called ‘Shadow.’ I’m hoping to sometime collaborate with her. And the list is too long. I love Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs. And I love so many R&B artists.”
Also, there’s Brandi Carlile. Raitt recently joined her at Carlile’s Mothership Weekend festival in Florida. “We sang ‘Angel From Montgomery.’ That was really fun. I’m sure we’ll be working together again. And I have a whole cadre of male and female and in-between artists that I love and hope I can record with.”
About The Author
Steve Morse
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