Bettye LaVette (from the album LaVette!

Bettye LaVette (from the album LaVette!

Bettye LaVette (from the album LaVette! available on Jay Vee Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
To get the real story, go to the source. Bettye LaVette has a new album, LaVette!, and it is her own words that give a thumbs up review when she speaks up saying ‘I’m very happy with what we’ve done. It is very, very difficult to please an old woman, but I’m nearly excited’. That is high praise from a woman whose career has spanned sixty-one years, beginning in the mid-1960’s and enjoying a resurgence in the mid-2000’s. The team behind Bettye on LaVette! is testament by taking a look at the entourage of players to tribute both the woman and her artistry. Star power lines up in the studio where Steve Jordan put together an A-list team for recording. With Steve on drums, the backing band included Pino Palladino on (bass), Larry Campbell (guitar), Chris Bruce (guitar), and Leon Pendarvis (keyboards), LaVette! welcoming in guest musicians John Mayer, Jon Baptiste, Steve Winwood, and more.
A funky groove begins the journey for “Plan B” as Bettye LaVette warns “Don’t Get Mer Started”, relives wild times in “Mess About It", and admits “I’m Lazy (And I Know It)”.Steve Jordan, producer and drummer for LaVette!, rightfully calls it stating ‘when Bettye gets a hold of a song, it becomes her song. It’s like she wrote it. She’s a great messenger, a communicator, an interpreter. I've always felt that if Bettye could just sing the songs she really wanted to sing, she would get the most out of it. LaVette! checks all the boxes’. For the songwriting, all the tunes included on LaVette! are from the pen of Randall Bramlett, Bettye LaVette feeling he is ‘the best songwriter I have heard in 30 years’.
Sweet Southern Soul goes deep into matters of the heart for “Sooner or Later” (featuring Anthony Hamilton, Ray Parker, Jr, Rev. Charles Hodges). Bettye opens the album on a low rhythm rumble calling out “See Through Me” (featuring Pedrito Martinez), upping the rhythmic patter in “Hard to Be Human”, and exiting LaVette! on the hushed Country tones of “It’s Alright”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen and buy the music of Bettye LaVette from AMAZON
Please visit the Bettye LaVette website for more information