Legendary American soul singer-songwriter Bettye LaVette celebrates 50 years in music by releasing her new studio album Thankful N’ Thoughtful in the UK on Monday 1st October. To mark the UK release, Bettye will perform a rare one-off concert at London’s JazzCafe on Tuesday 11th December. Table reservations: 0207 688 8899, Box Office: 0207 485 6834.
Released by ANTI-Records, the new album is produced by Craig Street (Norah Jones, k.d. lang, Meshell Ndegeocello, John Legend) and features contemporary tracks written and previously recorded by Bob Dylan, The Black Keys, Tom Waits, Neil Young, Patty Griffin, and Gnarls Barkley, and others.
Thankful N’ Thoughtful opens with the funk injected Bob Dylan cut Everything Is Broken and, as Bettye moans and howls the title refrain, you have no doubt as to the trouble she’s seen. On Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy, she slows the pace down, then wrings every drop of sweat and blood from each and every syllable till your spine tingles. On Dirty Old Town (The Pogues/Rod Stewart), Bettye reworks the lyrical setting to Detroit – singing about her first love at Northern High and the Detroit race riots. When she takes on The Black Keys’ I’m Not The One, the sensual grit of the song sizzles with her all-knowing rasp.
