Bonnie Raitt’s stunning voice nearly obscured her guitar work at her split bill with Taj Mahal at Red Rocks on Sunday.
Nearly 40 years ago, Bonnie Raitt opened up for Taj Mahal. Sunday night at Red Rocks, Taj returned the favor, in a sense. Not that either of them need much in the way of favors, at least so far as their music career goes. Raitt has won nine Grammy Awards and has been flashing Girl Power since long before any Spice Girl sported that slogan. And pioneering bluesman Taj Mahal was big before you were born.
He’s still big — big, big voice, and now a body to match. Taj Mahal kicked off an unusually blustery August evening fronting his seven-piece band through an instrumental standard blues progression, as if leading the band through calisthenics, and then taking on Bo Diddley’s “Diddy Wah Diddy.”
Sporting a Kangol hat and a khaki jacket, Taj exudes cool sexuality as he always has, but now at age 66 he no longer has to do so constantly. A few well-timed flashes of physical propulsion do the trick. In classics like “Going Up to the Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue” and newer renditions of classics like “Farther on Down the Road,” he let loose with a frosty voice — holding a ten-second note on the latter — that mixed titillation with a bit of road-warrior savvy. He went down real easy.
Would it be too boorish to admit I never realized Bonnie Raitt played some of the wicked guitar lines she clearly does play? No, not because I don’t think a woman can play guitar (I could feel the outrage from Raitt fans rising before I finished that last sentence), it’s just that her voice and sass are so at the forefront, and the rough-road-to-riches story so central to the Bonnie Raitt narrative, that you don’t much think about it unless you see her in person.
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If it were 20 years ago, I’d have seen on MTV, and I’d know better, but then on the cover of “Nick of Time,” you can’t actually see the guitar — only the strap. Like the rest of you, I blame the media.
I wouldn’t make that mistake after seeing her take on some scorching solos, especially during her hit “Thing Called Love,” which featured an exquisite guitar back-and-forth between Raitt and George Marinelli. And yet, she was at her finest during her encore, in a jazz singer sort of role. On “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” she wrung every note, every syllable for emotional content. It was delightful.
After the individual sets by Taj and Raitt, they merged their bands onstage for a showcase dual set with 11 musicians, including two drummers (essentially doubling parts). Raitt and Taj have superb charisma on their own, and are infectious together — they’re friends, flirty and ferocious when they take on the microphone and each other. That said, they’re a few luxury tour buses removed from the blues. Their valedictory electric set together was fun and no doubt virtuosic, but also a bit self-congratulatory.
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Taj Mahal and Bonnie Raitt perform Taj’s “Done Changed My Way of Living” on NBCs The Today Show – July 30, 2009. Taj’s new CD “Maestro” is amazing with guests: Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Angelique Kidjo, Los Lobos, etc… He was just entered into the Blues Hall of Fame!
But they are a great pairing, as had been seen earlier in the evening. Midway through Raitt’s solo set, her band had left and Taj alone replaced them. For a few songs, including a rendition of Mississippi John Hurt’s “I’m Satisfied” in which intricate finger-picking merged with slide guitar, they hushed the crowd and showed it the fruits of 80 combined years of music-making. “It’s hard to turn a place like this into a little club,” Raitt said, “but I think we just did.”
Every time Bonnie Raitt performs in the Twin Cities, her older brother, Steve, a local music producer, sits in on one song. On Thursday at the State Fair grandstand, Steve, who died in April of brain cancer, informed nearly every song in a remarkably emotional and unforgettable evening.
His little sister’s slide guitar was darker and moodier, her emotional ballads were more deeply felt (with Raitt on the verge of tears a couple of times), and her excessive chatter was filled with sadness, celebration and many things Minnesotan, from shout-outs to Steve’s friends to a mention of the previous night’s walleye dinner to an expression of her love for the Minnesota State Fair.
After Taj Mahal’s opening exploration of various shades of the blues, Raitt, 59, took the stage and dedicated the show to her brother, saying, “As far as I’m concerned he’s standing right here with me.”
Under these extremely personal circumstances, she relied often on Twin Cities keyboardist Ricky Peterson, who joined her band this year and was one of Steve’s best friends, to lift her up musically and spiritually. She sat next to him at the keyboards singing the lump-in-her-throat “Nick of Time,” which caused her to well up and, in the end, literally lean on Peterson and then kiss him on the lips.
After her stinging slide solo to end “Love Sneakin’ Up on You,” the song Steve used to always sing with Bonnie, she closed her eyes and blew a kiss to the sky. Then she reached new emotional heights with her always penetrating hit ballad “I Can’t Make You Love Me”; afterward, she slunk across the stage and gave Peterson, who had ended the piece with a soulfully jazzy solo, a long, long kiss.
At that point, Raitt summoned out Mahal and his Phantom Blues Band for a two-band jam. “The gloves are coming off,” she declared, “and all the sadness put aside.”
Raitt relished playing with a horn section for a change, and she clearly dug duetting with Mahal, a friend of 40 years but a first-time tour mate. They got playful on the sassy medley of “Tramp” and “Scratch My Back,” and tore it up on her snarling “Gnawin on It” (dedicated to Peterson and his wife, Lu) and the rockin’ “Comin’ Home.”
Raitt has been highly emotional at the State Fair before — in 1990 on the night after her friend, guitar hero Stevie Ray Vaughan, died in a helicopter crash, and in 1998 when her mom sang with her for the first time in public (which Raitt mentioned on Thursday).
But, on this 100th anniversary of the grandstand in front of 7,275 people, Raitt showed how her blues/rock/pop/R&B music, filled with pain and joy, was the perfect way to grieve and celebrate her love of her brother and best friend.
How emotional was it for Bonnie Raitt at the State Fair on Thursday?
She cried during the fireworks after her show, she told me a short time later. She said it was particularly tough on Wednesday when she went on Lake Minnetonka with a bunch of friends of her older brother, Twin Cities producer Steve Raitt, who died in April of brain cancer.
She admitted that there were a couple moments onstage Thursday where she had to summon Steve for emotional rescue to get through a poignant song. She said she’d experienced a similar type thing when her father, Broadway star John Raitt, had died and she had to sing shortly after his passing. She merely thought of him when she was overcome with emotion.
During the fair concert, Raitt gave shout outs to some of Steve’s friends, including drummer Bobby Vandell, and to her many Minnesota friends, including Willie Murphy, Tony Glover and John Koerner.
Raitt’s teaming with longtime friend but first-time tourmate Taj Mahal made the structure of the evening different. He and his band opened (loved the swinging instrumental “Seven Eleven” and when he said “Fishin’ Blues” should be the Minnesota state song), then Raitt and her band performed; Taj sat in with her on a couple of acoustic numbers and then he and his band joined her for seven songs at the end.
Here is Raitt’s set list:
Sho Do Thing Called Love Nick of Time Your Good Thing Is About to End Good Man Good Woman Satisfied (acoustic w Taj) Done Changed My Way of Living (w Taj) Angel from Montgomery I Will Not Be Broken Something to Talk About Love Sneakin’ Up on You I Can’t Make You Love Me BOTH BANDS COMBINED: Tramp Scratch My Back She Felt Too Good She Caught the Katy Wah She Go Do Love So Strong Gnawin’ on It Comin’ Home
Jon Bream has been a music critic at the Star Tribune since 1975, making him the longest tenured pop critic at a U.S. daily newspaper. He has attended more than 8,000 concerts and written four books (on Prince, Led Zeppelin, Neil Diamond and Bob Dylan). Thus far, he has ignored readers’ suggestions that he take a music-appreciation class.
Bream has interviewed such music royalty as the King of Pop (Michael Jackson), the Queen of Soul (Aretha Franklin) and Prince as well as Bob Dylan, U2, three Beatles, four Rolling Stones and all of Maroon 5. He has performed with Alice Cooper, jogged with Willie Nelson and walked the streets of New York with Bruce Springsteen. A longtime voter for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Bream has also written for the Los Angeles Times, Billboard, Vibe and other publications. He has a journalism degree from the University of Minnesota, where he established the Jon Bream Scholarship for Arts Criticism.
Bonnie Raitt opened the Minnesota State Fair’s Grandstand series Thursday night with the help of an old friend, 67-year-old blues icon Taj Mahal. But it was another, even older, friend whose memory informed every moment of the show.
Raitt’s brother, Steve, died in April of brain cancer at age 61, after spending several decades living in the Twin Cities and working as a sound engineer and producer. Indeed, Raitt recorded her 1971 debut album in Minnesota with the help of her brother. His presence in the Cities gave Raitt numerous reasons to visit, and over the years, she has performed here on a regular basis, including five previous gigs at the Fair itself.
At the top of Thursday’s show, Raitt dedicated the evening to her brother, the first of numerous times she spoke of him from the stage. It wasn’t a wake, but a celebration of his life through music and stories — a celebration with more than a little lingering pain.
As such, Raitt turned in the sort of raw, let-all-the-seams-show performance that few in the crowd of 7,275 will ever forget. She devoted much of her first hour to slow, passionate blues numbers, delivered with hushed reverence and, often, closed eyes. She seemed to draw strength from the newest member of her band, the Twin Cities’ own Ricky Peterson, and spoke lovingly of him and his relationship with her brother.
During “Nick of Time,” she sidled up next to Peterson on the keyboards, and praised him for the “Minnesota magic” he’s spent the summer spreading to fans around the country. Later, she sang “Good Man Good Woman” with him as a duet, showcasing a chemistry that suggested they’d been bandmates for decades, not mere months.
But it was Raitt’s version of John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery” that gave the evening its strongest charge. She opened it singing nearly a cappella, with just a few spare strums on her acoustic guitar, and closed it with her band backing her at full force.
Raitt, who turns 60 in November, also proved endlessly generous, giving shout-outs to numerous friends in the crowd, her fellow musicians and even upcoming Fair performers like Kelly Clarkson and Jackson Browne.
Mahal, who co-produced her 1973 album “Takin’ My Time,” opened the evening with a brisk 45-minute set and later joined Raitt for several acoustic numbers. After she ran through a few of her biggest hits — “Something to Talk About,” “Love Sneakin’ Up on You” and a wrenching “I Can’t Make You Love Me” — Raitt invited Mahal and his entire band for an extended encore that included “Wah She Go Do,” one of the many songs they recorded together nearly four decades ago.
A Minnesota native, Ross Raihala joined the Pioneer Press as pop music critic in 2004, after stints at The Forum in Fargo, N.D., and The Olympian in Olympia, Wash. He covers local and national music as well as some theater and other arts and entertainment topics. His favorite part of his job is reviewing, and live tweeting, Twin Cities arena concerts. And, yes, he saw the same show you did.
For nearly 40 years, Bonnie Raitt has felt and embraced the power of blues music, paying tribute to blues greats with her own engaging take on the genre that “goes all over the place,” enhanced by passionate singing and tasteful slide-guitar work.
On Sunday night, her fans experienced that power times two at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, with one of those blues greats — Taj Mahal — joining the ride, delivering a more than memorable double bill to close out the Gardens summer concert season.
One only needs to picture the scene at the tail-end of the night to understand that power: Raitt, Mahal and both their bands together on stage (11 musicians in all) creating jubilant blues-steeped strains on “Tramp” and “She Caught the Katy (and Left Me a Mule to Ride)” with the sold-out crowd of 1,750-plus on its feet, bobbing and roaring its approval.
4 OUT OF 4 STARS
Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal
Highlight No. 1: Raitt following up two terrific acoustic duets with Mahal by singing a mesmerizing version of John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery.” Highlight No. 2: The bluesy, reggae-tinged “Love So Strong,” played by both bands during the encore. Time on stage: 2 hours, 32 minutes
Bonnie Raitt - Intro - Chat
Bonnie Raitt - I Sho Do (Mabon L. 'Teenie' Hodges / Billy Always)
Bonnie Raitt - Thing Called Love (John Hiatt)
Bonnie Raitt - Chat
Bonnie Raitt - Nick Of Time (Bonnie Raitt)
Bonnie Raitt - Band intro
Bonnie Raitt - Your Good Thing (Is About To End) (Isaac Hayes & David Porter)
Bonnie Raitt w/Ricky Peterson-vocals - Good Man, Good Woman (Cecil Womack / Linda Womack)
Bonnie Raitt w/Taj Mahal - Done Changed My Way of Living (Taj Mahal)
Bonnie Raitt - Intro
Bonnie Raitt - Angel From Montgomery (John Prine)
Bonnie Raitt - Intro
Bonnie Raitt - I Will Not Be Broken (Wayne Kirkpatrick / Tommy Sims / Gordon Kennedy)
Bonnie Raitt - Something To Talk About (Shirley Eikhard)
Bonnie Raitt - Love Sneakin’ Up On You (Tom Snow / Jimmy Scott)
Bonnie Raitt - I Can't Make You Love Me (Allen Shamblin / Michael Reid)
Bonnie Raitt w/Taj Mahal and The Phantom Blues Band - Tramp / Scratch My Back (Lowell Fulson and Jimmy McCracklin / James Moore)
Bonnie Raitt w/Taj Mahal and The Phantom Blues Band - She Felt Too Good (Robey & McCracklin)
Bonnie Raitt w/Taj Mahal and The Phantom Blues Band - She Caught The Katy (James A Rachell / Taj Mahal)
Bonnie Raitt - Intro
Bonnie Raitt w/Taj Mahal and The Phantom Blues Band - Wah She Go Do (McCarth Lewis)
Bonnie Raitt w/Taj Mahal and The Phantom Blues Band - Love So Strong (Frederick Hibbert)
Bonnie Raitt w/Taj Mahal and The Phantom Blues Band - Gnawin' On It (Music by Bonnie Raitt and Roy Rogers / Lyrics by Bonnie Raitt)
Bonnie Raitt w/Taj Mahal and The Phantom Blues Band - Coming Home / TV Mama (Elmore James and Robert Johnson / Joe Turner)
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Let’s just say it was as close to a perfect ending for a summer concert series as it gets.
Even Raitt couldn’t contain her enthusiasm for the outdoor amphitheater, the weather, the sculptures, the lighting, even the Gardens’ food, complimenting all of the above at different times during the evening. “Could you get anymore beautiful a place than this to play?” she gushed early on, then later, “No mosquitoes. I love this place!” And, “This is unbelievable.”
She was right. Taj Mahal told me last week that the co-headlining “BonTaj Roulet” summer tour has been “an opportunity for us to make a real good thing in terms of the power of the music.” Well, that “real good thing” was really, really good for much of the evening, with the 59-year-old Raitt in flawless voice and the 67-year-old Mahal obviously energized by the pair’s partnership.
It all started with Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band’s opening 47-minute set, which covered the gamut of the singer and multi-instrumentalist’s blues catalog, from a rendition of Fats Domino’s “Hello Josephine” to Mahal’s own “Farther on Down the Road (You Will Accompany Me)” to Horace Silver’s “Senor Blues,” with its hard-bop, Latin-jazz milieu.
Blues music has “so many different styles and colors it ain’t blue no more,” Mahal explained after the slow-cookin’ blues of “Here in the Dark,” a tune that spotlighted the emotional intensity of the singer’s voice.
Still, when it comes to voices, few in blues, rock or pop can match that of Raitt, whether she’s singing the painfully poignant ballad “I Can’t Make You Love Me” or the funky blues-rocker “Love Sneaking Up On You.”
As demonstrated frequently Sunday night, Raitt — who even gave shout-outs from the stage to local fans/pals, including record store owner Mario Leon and pop singer Casey Stratton — has that singular ability and clarity of voice to make you feel like she’s singing directly to you, making you feel every note and sentiment on “Angel From Montgomery” or “I Will Not Be Broken.”
Then there’s the redhead’s slyly sexual side which emerges on uptempo crowd favorites “Something to Talk About” and “Thing Called Love,” her restrained yet always classy slide-guitar work enhanced by Ricky Peterson’s impressive, clutch keyboard work and solid contributions from George Marinelli on guitar, Hutch Hutchinson on bass and Ricky Fataar on drums.
And when Raitt brought out Mahal and his six-piece band (including the Texicali Horns section of saxophonist Joe Sublett and trumpet player Darrell Leonard) for a seven-song encore of duets, described as the show’s “third act,” it was nothing if not a delicious, bluesy feast.
Marinelli and the Phantom Blues Band’s Johnny Lee Schell exchanged zesty guitar licks on “Love So Strong” and “Gnawin’ on It,” while a smiling Raitt and Mahal boogied with each other and traded lead vocals, finishing things up with a frisky rendering of Big Joe Turner’s “TV Mama.”
Just before Raitt took her final bows with the ensemble and left the stage, she termed the collaboration with Mahal and his band “a match made in heaven.”
Lovers of the blues in all its forms couldn’t have said it better.
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.
Bonnie has contributed a new recording of "Prison Bound Blues" written by Leroy Carr to a project called Better Than Jail, an extraordinary new album benefiting Free Hearts and Equal Justice USA. Better Than Jail is available everywhere today and features covers of iconic prison songs from Steve Earle, Taj Mahal,Margo Price, The War and Treaty and many more. The album seeks to raise awareness and support for the urgent need to reduce the harm of the criminal justice system. https://found.ee/BetterThanJail.
I'm so proud to have joined in with so many illustrious artists in creating this very special album in support of rural prison reform. Overlooked for far too long, this issue cuts across all cultural and political divides and deserves all our focused attention to finally bring about some swift and meaningful action. Better Than Jail is one of the most inspired and heartfelt albums I've been blessed to be a part of and I hope it sets a fire in hearts far and wide to join in our efforts." ~ Bonnie Raitt
Released on: 2024-10-04 Executive Producer: Brian Hunt Producer: Kenny Greenberg Producer: Wally Wilson Producer: Bonnie Raitt Recording Engineer: Jason Lehning at Sound Emporium Mastering Engineer: Alex McCollough at True East Mastering Production Assistant: Shannon Finnegan Mixer: Justin Niebank at Hounds Ear Music Publisher: Universal Music Corp. Composer, Lyricist: Leroy Carr ℗ Believe Entertainment Group and Wyatt Road Records
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The Fabulous Thunderbirds - Nothing in Rambling Ft. Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Keb' Mo' & Mick Fleetwood
In celebration of the band’s 50th Anniversary, The Fabulous Thunderbirds have just released Struck Down, their first studio album in eight years on Stony Plain Records. The ten-track album includes a wonderful cover of Memphis Minnie’s “Nothing in Rambling,” featuring longtime friends, T-Birds founding member Kim Wilson, along with Bonnie, Keb’ Mo’, Taj Mahal and Mick Fleetwood. — BRHQ
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Little Feat - Long Distance Call
“I’ve always loved Little Feat and this new incarnation of the band is bringing some serious heat, cred and new blood to their enduring legacy. Every Feat fan loves us some Sam. I’m so glad he’s now gotten a chance to step out front and center and put his spin on these wonderful blues songs. I loved singing "Long Distance Call" with him, always one of my favorites, and Scott slayed on slide. Know you’ll enjoy hanging out with us at Sam’s Place!" -- Bonnie Raitt
“Long Distance Call” was written by blues legend, Muddy Waters. It has Sam Clayton and Bonnie Raitt on vocals, Scott Sharrard on Dobro, Fred Tackett on acoustic guitar, Tony Leone on drums, and Michael “The Bull” LoBue on harmonica. The album also features Bill Payne on piano and Kenny Gradney on bass.
Little Feat have composed an album that’s their love letter to the blues entitled, ‘Sam’s Place.’ “Long Distance Call” plus many other blues classics are on this album. You can stream and order ‘Sam’s Place’ here: https://orcd.co/samsplace
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
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Arhoolie Foundation celebrates it's 60th anniversary (1960-2020) with an online broadcast.
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
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