On Sunday night (Feb. 5), Bonnie Raitt took home Grammy Awards for Best Americana Performance and Best American Roots Song. There was one award she did not expect to win – Song of the Year for her 2022 hit, “Just Like That.”
The track, the only one nominated in the category with a single songwriter, went head-to-head against some of the night’s biggest songs, including hits from Adele, Beyoncé, Harry Styles, Lizzo, and Taylor Swift.
Raitt’s self-penned “Just Like That,” tells a story, one born from selflessness and unconditional love.
The Origins
In conversation with American Songwriter, Raitt explained the inspiration for “Just Like That” came from a human interest piece that had been broadcast on the news. The story was about a woman who had donated her son’s heart after his death and was about to meet the organ’s recipient for the first time.
“I just lost it,” Raitt said of the moment the man let the mother hear her late son’s heart in his chest. “It was the most moving and surprising thing. I wasn’t expecting it. I vowed right then that I wanted to write a song about what that would take.”
And so she set out to write the story song, “Just Like That,” and her subsequent album of the same name. In between her words of disbelief, she reiterated the story behind the song in her Grammy acceptance speech, citing the late great John Prine as instrumental inspiration as well.
Watch her acceptance below.
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The Lyrics
“Every time I hear about a family donating organs when their child has been killed, or there’s some sort of sudden death—as if you’re not in grief and shock enough—to have the view and the compassion and the love to be able to pay it forward like that is so incredible,” Raitt told American Songwriter.
“Just Like That” tells the story of the meeting of the mother and the recipient, depicting an interaction that is both heartwarming and gut-wrenching.
I watched him circle ’round the block / Finally stopped at mine / Took a while before he knocked / Like all he had was time, the song begins with curiosity and apprehension ahead of the bittersweet meeting. “Excuse me, ma’am, maybe you can help / The directions weren’t so clear / I’m looking for Olivia Zand / They said I might find her here.”
Well I looked real hard and asked him / “What she’s got he’s looking for?” the song’s narrator responds. Met with the reply Said “there’s somethin’ I think she’d want to know,” the tune takes off on a touching journey of loss and love.
And just like that your life can change / If I hadn’t looked away / My boy might still be with me now / He’d be 25 today, the chorus plays, No knife can carve away the stain / No drink can drown regret / They say Jesus brings you peace and grace / Well he ain’t found me yet.
The next verse reveals why this stranger has come and what it is he has to say. He sat down and took a deeper breath / Then looked right in my face / “I heard about the son you lost / How you left without a trace / I’ve spent years just trying to find you / So I could finally let you know / It was your son’s heart that saved me / And a life you gave us both.”
Just like the exposé that inspired “Just Like That,” the mother gets to be with her son one more time because of the kindness of a stranger, and because of the kindness she first showed him.
And just like that your life can change, the song comes to a close. Look what the angels send / I lay my head upon his chest / And I was with my boy again / Well I spent so long in darkness / I never thought the night would end / But somehow grace has found me / And I had to let him in.
First and foremost, Alli Patton is a chicken wing connoisseur. She is a writer, second. The Birmingham, Alabama-native is a lover of music and the written word and finds great joy in combining the two. She is a journalist with eight years of experience working for various publications around the world. Prior to her journalism career, she worked in the music industry as a Digital Media Specialist, a role that has informed her work as a writer today. A Dolly Parton junkie and lover of all things with a twang, Patton can be found spinning old records and trying to teach her dog, Zeppelin, how to two step. You can find her scribblings on country, rock, and everything in between at American Songwriter, Holler, and The Independent.
A sentimental ballad inspired by a mother’s real-life grief won Song of the Year at the 2023 Grammy Awards and finally gave an Americana artist true recognition as a song-writer after more than 50 years of recording and performing.
Singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt collected the prestigious Grammy for “Just Like That” – a song she was inspired to write after watching a television news story about a mother who met up with the recipient of her dead son’s transplanted heart and how she was able to hear her child’s heart beating again.
Raitt was visibly shocked when the First Lady Jill Biden named her as winner of one of the night’s major awards. Earlier in the evening, in the non-televised segment, she had won Best American Roots Song for “Just Like That” and collected a third Grammy for Best Americana Performance with “Made Up Mind.”
And her acceptance speech for Song of the Year was one of the most sincere seen recently at the Recording Academy’s annual wards.
“Oh my God, I’m so surprised I don’t know what to say,” she gasped. “This is an unreal moment, thank you for honouring me. And to the Academy which surrounds me with so much support and appreciates the art of song writing as I do.”
She then briefly explained how “Just Like That” was conceived.
“I was so inspired for this song by the incredible story of the love and the grace and generosity of someone that donates their beloved’s organs to help another person live. And that story was so simple and so beautiful for these times.”
She used the occasion to pay a special tribute to her old friend and collaborator John Prine, who died of COVID complications in 2020.
“And people have been responding to the song, partly because of how much I love – and we all love – John Prine, and that was the inspiration for the music for this song and telling a story from the inside,” she said.
“I don’t write a lot of songs but I’m so proud that you appreciate this one and what this means for me and for the rest of the songwriters,” she added. “I would not be here tonight if it wasn’t for the art of the great soul-diggers, hard-working people that put these songs and ideas to music.”
She ended: “I thank my team for helping me get this record out and thank you so much. I am just totally humbled. I really appreciate it. Thank you.”
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The three awards took the 73-year-old Californian’s Grammy total to 13 since she won her first in 1990. In addition, last year she was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. All-in-all, she has received a total 32 Grammy nominations in the past 43 years, including four this year. But until now, none had been for song-writing.
And although her own compositions have been scattered among most of her 18 studio albums – the self-titled first in 1971 and the latest Just Like That in 2022 – she is more renown for discovering and interpreting songs from other great writers. And her signature song happens to be a wonderful version of the John Prine classic “Angel from Montgomery” she first recorded in 1974 for her Streetlights album.
In a fascinating interview with The New York Times prior to the Grammys, Raitt told pop critic Jon Pareles in more detail how the slow, endearing “Just Like That” came to her: “And completely out of the blue, I saw this news program. They followed this woman with a film crew to the guy’s house who received her son’s heart. There was a lump in my throat – it was very emotional.”
She added: “And when he asked her to sit down next to him and asked if she’d like to put her head on his chest and listen to his heart – I can’t even tell the story to this day without choking up, because it was so moving to me.”
And, true to her word, Raitt skillfully translated what she saw on the news story into first-person lyrics: I lay my head upon his chest And I was with my boy again I spent so long in darkness Never thought the night would end But somehow grace has found me And I had to let him in
Raitt got a fourth nomination for Best Americana Album – that category going to Brandi Carlile for “In These Silent Days.” Carlile would enhance her reputation as a multi-genre artist when “Broken Horses” won her Grammys for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance.
Perhaps the most deserved award at the 65th Grammys was Best Bluegrass Album won by Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway for their lauded 2022 release Crooked Tree. Tuttle had made Grammy history by becoming the first Bluegrass artist to get nominated for the all-genre Best New Artist Award. She was one of 10 finalists for the New Artist title, which went to jazz singer Samara Joy.
Tuttle is also no stranger to awards, having already collected eight in the past seven years. In 2017 she became the first female to win the Guitar Player of the Year Award at the annual International Bluegrass Music Awards. She won the same honour the following year, when she also collected Instrumentalist of the Year at the Americana Music Awards.
And only a week ago, Crooked Tree was named Album of the Year at the International Folk music Awards in Kansas City, Missouri.
At the other end of the career spectrum, Willie Nelson took his Grammy tally to 15 – over 48 years – after winning Best Country Album for “A Beautiful Time” and Best Country Solo Performance for “Live Forever,” an aptly-named song for a performer who will turn 90 on April 29. “A Beautiful Time” was Nelson’s 98th studio album.
And speaking of old timers, there was a Grammy for two roots legends, Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder, who won the Best Blues Album Grammy for Get on Board: The Songs of Sony Terry & Brownie McGhee. As per the title, the album featured 11 songs drawn from recordings by southern blues legends Terry and McGhee, another great blues twosome Taj and Ry first heard as teenagers.
But all these achievements have little chance of appearing in the mainstream music media. They were overshadowed by “Queen B’ Beyonce picking up four awards to take her total to 32 – an all-time Grammy record.
Americana/Roots/Country Grammy Winners:
Song of the Year “Just Like That” – Bonnie Raitt
Best American Roots Song “Just Like That” – Bonnie Raitt, songwriter
Best Americana Performance “Made Up Mind” – Bonnie Raitt
Best Bluegrass Album “Crooked Tree” – Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway
Best Americana Album “In These Silent Days” – Brandi Carlile
Best American Roots Performance “Stompin Ground “ – Aaron Neville and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band Aaron Neville with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Best Country Solo Performance “Live Forever” – Willie Nelson
Best Country Album “A Beautiful Time” – Willie Nelson
Best Country Song “ ‘Til You Can’t” – Cody Johnson, songwriter
Best Country Duo/Group Performance “Never Wanted to Be That Girl” – Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde
Best Traditional Blues Album “Get On Board” – Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder
Best Contemporary Blues Album “Brother Johnny” – Edgar Winter
Best Folk Album “Revealer” – Madison Cunningham
Best Regional Roots Music Album “Live at the 2022 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival” – Ranky Tanky
When Bonnie Raitt’s name was called by presenter Jill Biden for Song of the Year at the Grammys on Sunday night, many on social media responded with confusion and even disgust. “Stop giving random people awards challenge,” wrote one user.
Raitt’s victory—which came at the expense of pop titans like Beyoncé, Adele, Taylor Swift and Harry Styles—was one of the more notable upsets in recent Grammys history; even Raitt herself was stunned. “Just Like That’ wasn’t remotely in the zeitgeist this year. It has one-sixtieth the number of Spotify streams as the second-least streamed song in the category, DJ Khaled’s “GOD DID.” To many, its victory was a perfect example of the Grammys being out of touch.
That critique is partly true: the song absolutely benefited from older Grammy voters who look upon music industry changes with contempt and long for the good old days. But it also happens that “Just Like That” is a terrific, poignant song, written from a perspective that is all too often boxed out of the cultural spotlight.
A vote for a more personal approach to music
There are many systemic reasons why a path was cleared for Raitt to take home her unlikely trophy. First of all, Raitt is a music legend, deeply respected by her peers of all generations. She is a mean blues guitarist and a devastating writer of songs about breakups and hard times. Her influence is deeply felt through two of her younger Grammy winners: Brandy Carlile, who once said she tells herself to “be Bonnie” in tough situations; and Adele, who called Raitt’s song “I Can’t Make You Love Me” “perfect in every single way,” and said it was an outsized influence in the creation of her monumental album 21.
Raitt was also likely aided by the fact that her connection with the Grammys is long and deep. She nabbed her first of 13 trophies in 1990—taking home Album of the Year for the Americana classic Nick of Time—and has remained a frequent onstage presence ever since. In recent years she’s gamely performed in an array of situations, whether duetting with Alicia Keys on an Etta James classic or helping Joni Mitchell read the teleprompter last year. She serves as a bridge both to an older generation and a younger one.
Bonnie Raitt looked stunned when her win for “Just Like That” was announced at the 65th annual Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 5.
Raitt has succeeded at the Grammys not just for her overflowing musical talent, but because she’s the kind of artist that the Grammys want to honor, especially in the face of rapidly changing musical trends. Grammy voters tend to be old and white; they like it when artists play their own instruments, write their own songs, and uphold long-held traditions. Several anonymous voters admitted as much in a recent Variety article, with one complaining about the lack of “real musicians” on the ballot and how “the pendulum is swinging… way into ‘We must appease the TikTok generation.’”
A vote for Raitt, then, was a vote not just for the song, but for a generation, as well as a non-digital, highly personal approach to music. Song of the Year is supposed to be a songwriters award, and “Just Like That” was the only song on the ballot to only list one songwriter. It’s entirely possible that many older voters saw her solo name and picked as a rejoinder to a new era of pop songs written by committee. It’s also possible that many picked the song as a continued legacy vote for an artist who was already awarded with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award last year.
A unique story from an oft-ignored perspective
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But all of this analysis ignores the quality of the song itself. “Just Like That” is a story song, an increasingly rare breed these days. Over a finger-picked guitar, Raitt sings through the lens of the fictional Olivia Zand, a grief-stricken mother who receives a stranger at her door. While the hardened, solitary Zand at first wants to turn him away, she lets him in and soon learns that he was the recipient of her dead son’s heart transplant. He has come to thank her for effectively saving his life. “And just like that, your life can change, look what the angels send/ I lay my head upon his chest and I was with my boy again,” Raitt sings.
It’s a story of how heartbreak can spring into hope, filled with suspense and haunting turns of phrase. Raitt delivers a lovely, understated vocal performance as a woman who has long buried her sadness before letting it unleash.
The song is reminiscent of another one of Raitt’s foremost hits, the John Prine-penned “Angel From Montgomery,” partially because both are written from a perspective rarely taken seriously in pop music, or pop culture at large, these days. Last week, TIME film critic Stephanie Zacharek wrote a piece pegged to the new film 80 For Brady about how the stories of older women have long mattered little to wider culture.
“As we age, nearly all women notice that they become somewhat invisible in the world, but in the golden era of the women’s film, older women really were expected to fade quietly into the wallpaper,” she wrote. “Just Like That” shows Raitt refusing to fade away; it shows that stories that are supposed to have been long-finished can be rejuvenated.
If you went on social media last night, you would quickly absorb the opinion that Raitt’s voice has no consequence, particularly in relation to her blockbuster peers; that because the Grammys didn’t center youth or statistical streaming proof, they got it wrong. But “Just Like That” matters because it tells a unique story from an oft-ignored perspective—and because it’s a flat-out beautiful song that Adele, Taylor Swift, or Beyoncé would be proud to have written. And hopefully, when they all reach age 73 just like Raitt has, they’ll find that their stories still matter as much as the empowerment anthems of their youths, even if the users of the app that has replaced the app that has replaced TikTok don’t agree.
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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