An Evening with Bettye LaVette

Bettye LaVette is no mere singer. She is an interpreter of the highest order. Whether the song originated as country, rock, pop, or blues, when she gets through with it, it is pure R&B. She gets inside a song and shapes and twists it to convey all of the emotion that can be wrought from the lyrics. To quote the late, great George Jones: “Bettye is truly a ‘singer’s singer.’”

On these intimate shows, Bettye is accompanied by her keyboard player, Evan Mercer. She will be performing songs from throughout her 57-year career, including songs that she used to perform in small Detroit clubs before her 21st Century resurgence began. Some of these songs she does not perform with her full band.

Her career began in 1962, at the age of 16, in Detroit, Michigan. Her first single “My Man – He’s a Loving Man”, was released on Atlantic Records.  She recorded for numerous major labels, including Atco, Epic, and Motown, over the course of the 1960s through the 1980s.

The 2000s started what she calls her “Fifth Career”. Her CD, A Woman Like Me, won the W.C. Handy Award in 2004 for Comeback Blues Album of the Year. She was also given a prestigious Pioneer Award by The Rhythm & Blues Foundation. She has received Blues Music Awards for Best Contemporary Female Blues Singer and Best Soul Blues Female Artist. She recorded 4 CDs for hipster indie label ANTI- Records over the course of 8 years, 2 of which received Grammy nominations. Her 2015 CD, Worthy, was also nominated for a Grammy.

In 2018 she released Things Have Changed, an album of all Bob Dylan songs, for Verve Records. It received two Grammy nominations, one for Best Americana Album, and one for the song “Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight” for Best Traditional R&B Performance.

Fans, critics and artists have nothing but high praise for her live show and her vocal prowess. Now, at 73 years old, she is still performing with the ferocity of a woman half her age. She is one of very few of her contemporaries who were recording during the birth of soul music in the 1960s and is still creating vital recordings today.