Bettye LaVette at the Beachland Tonight!



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If you're anything like me, you've probably never heard of Bettye LaVette. I first ran across her name when I saw her new album as one of the top selling albums on eMusic.com. I had downloads I needed to use up with my subscription, so I downloaded it to see what the fuss was all about. Didn't give it the time it deserved, until I got my copy of No Depression in the mail. They had a large 6 page article on her, talking about her life from a popular 60's Motown singer to today, and her release of a new album of covers (including Joan Armatrading and Fiona Apple). Since then, with a bit more time, I've really been enjoying the album.

Next thing I know, I see that she's coming to the Beachland Ballroom. I've been planning on going, and quite excited about it. But as my semester comes to an end, I'm afraid I might have to sit this night out and work on homework. :(

Regardless, I think this should be an amazing show. If anyone goes, please feel free to comment about it!

Here's my favorite track from the album. This is her cover of Joan Armatrading's "Down to Zero":

Here's the write-up from eMusic.com

Bettye LaVette's resume reads impressively, with stints on tiny soul imprints as well as Motown and Atlantic during their heyday — bitter irony then that her career has been filled with disappointment, false starts and missed opportunities. Relegated to the esoterica of Northern Soul aficionados, Bettye's career has been revitalized in the 21st century with a new start on the Anti- label.

I've Got My Own Hell to Raise finds her in the studio with producer Joe Henry, who performed no mean feat pulling Solomon Burke out of the formaldehyde a few years back, even if only to gloss him over in the studio. LaVette is too feisty and self-assured a performer to be overwhelmed by such slickness, however, and her sandpaper pipes abrade against any constraining backdrop.

Tackling the oft-overlooked songbooks of ladies like Aimee Mann, Dolly Parton, Roseanne Cash and Joan Armatrading, LaVette deftly reconfigures country, folk and pop tunes into sounding like Southern soul standards. Her voice works best against a spartan backdrop, alternately pleading and belting a capella on Sinead O'Connor's "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" or sprinkling heartrending grit over the nylon strings of "Just Say So." On Fiona Apple's bratty "Sleep to Dream," LaVette burns incandescently like a lady phoenix, defiantly rising once again.

Posted: Thu - December 8, 2005 at 10:08 AM           |

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