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Q: This is such an exciting time to talk to you. You're just about to release your 18th album, Souls Alike. How do you feel emotionally right before you're about to put out a record?
A: Well, until the reviews start coming in, it's a little hairy. Kind of like waiting for your test results. And I'll just let that one go. But I already know from doing the advance interviews that a lot of people I was concerned about that I've talked to that they really like the record, so sort of the pressure's off. But I really like it, my band likes it, my friends like it. So it's exciting and it's a little hairy. And usually, right before we come out with a record, there's the whole year-long tour. You know, lights and sound and bus companies and bio-diesel and which benefit guys are going to get the money and everybody's hitting you up to be the opening act. So there's a lot of management. It's like planning ten weddings. So exciting would be one way to put it.
Q: Where does the title of the album, Souls Alike,, come from?
A: I actually pulled that from a background -- you know, it's kind of a refrain that goes in the instrumental part of Deep Water. And I was really having trouble coming up with a title, because usually, there's a song that lends itself perfectly, you know, Nick of Time, Taking My Time, Silver Lining. But the ones that were the most intriguing titles opened myself up for the critics going, "Well, I guess the crooked crown, you know, isn't sitting well on her head," or "the bed I made, she better learn to sleep in it." You know, these things that they always do with the title. You know, just in the nick of time or I guess it wasn't the luck of the draw. So knowing that that was coming, I just wanted to pick a title that reflected how I feel about the record and actually just sprung out when I was -- one day I was just driving and I realized that, for me, the songwriters and this group of musicians and Tchad Blake and the people -- everybody, the team that put this record (together), we have such a connection on such a deep level that Souls Alike, just seemed to express that.
Q: And I know it's a team effort for the record, but this is, I believe, the first album of yours that says "produced by Bonnie Raitt."
A: Even though I've had a hand and a major say in all my records in terms of picking the selections and the musicians and which songs make it, there's always a team that -- you know, I usually pick a producer that comes with kind of an engineer that he loves to work with. And I choose them because I like the sound of the other records that they've been doing lately. And there's an affinity and a connection that we have personally that makes another set of ears or two just a great team. But in this instance, I really had these songs planned in advance and I knew what I wanted to do with them. The band and I have worked together now for five years, this particular unit of people. Ricky and Hutch have been with me for -- you know, since the ‘80s. So I knew that on the basis of Silver Lining, which I also took the first name credit on, that this was a team that was going to be able to pull these songs off, you know, pretty much as I had them in my head. And I let those guys just run. We don't rehearse a lot. I don't give them a lot of direction. I kind of just say, "This is how I'm hearing it," and then we just play it once or twice and hook up in the studio and play it once or twice again and that's it.
Q: There's several musical departures for you on Souls Alike. But the first song on the album I Will Not Be Broken, it feels comfortable. I mean, the drum pattern feels like Nick of Time 16 years down the road or something. Do you think?
A: Well, that Memphis R&B groove is pretty well-entrenched in my DNA, I think. You know, there's a couple of speeds that I like to go, and one of them is the rock and roll speed and the other one is this mid, kind of R&B Philly groove and Memphis soul. And so a lot of my material, I think, probably lands on that beat, because that's the way I like to dance.
Q: The song I Will Not Be Broken that was written by the same team of writers who composed your hit, I Can't Help You Now.
A: Yeah
Q: And Change the World that Eric Clapton did. But it really seems to speak to your life's situation.
A: I would say that when I first heard that song a couple of years ago, I earmarked it for this record. It was the first one I had, because, even if I wasn't going through health, my family situation or we didn't go through the election, which was as we know is kind of stressful for everybody. And it really is such a touchstone to give you strength about I'm just going to persevere and you can't push me around anymore. And that's just one of the messages I really like singing. So this one just was such as great combination of great lyrics and a groove. But especially recording it right after the election was particularly -- gave it a little edge, because, you know, I was upset so...
Q: A bit of defiance
A: Yeah
Q: You mentioned your family situation. I know that your brother was ill but he's better now.
A: Yeah, he's recovered from Stage 4 astrocytoma brain cancer by a macrobiotic program when the other chemo and radiation didn't work. And I just want to encourage anybody out there that wants to know about it, the Kushi Institute, K-u-s-h-i, in Massachusetts is the -- are the people that helped oversee the program. And he's cancer free. So that was fantastic. Although, for a couple of years there, it was very, very touch and go.
Q: And I know that sadly, both of your parents passed away over the last year. Your father, John Raitt, the great Broadway singer; your mom, Marge Goddard, who played piano and sang, very accomplished. How did they set you on your musical path?
A: Well I was so blessed, and my brothers and I, being raised in a family of people that just naturally breath and enjoyed music so much, even if they didn't do it for a living, they would be playing all the time. And they rehearsed. My mom was my dad's musical director and accompanist. And they rehearsed in the house. And from the time I was little, I memorized all those great Broadway scores.
A: For those of you out there that don't know, my dad was the original leading man in Carousel and Pajama Game and did shows like Oklahoma and he went on to do Zorba and South Pacific and Man of Lamancha. You know, basically, stayed on the road for 40 or 50 years. And that's where I got that gypsy life and loving to work at night and having a different opening night every night. I think it really became in my blood. So I would say that they're a musical influence because they didn't push it on us, but it just gave us the joy and we got to see how much fun it was to work at night and not have a regular job.
A: So when I was in college and I found out I could actually get away with performing in little clubs to make some extra money, suddenly I went, "boy, Dad, I know what you're talking about. This is a blast!"
Q: I didn't know a lot of that stuff. That's great to know. On this album, Souls Alike, you've chosen not to include any of your own songs. Most of the songs sound like you could have written them. When you sing other people's songs, do you have to be able to get behind and understand every lyric?
A: Absolutely. I mean, I can't let a false anything come out of my mouth. And so I'm thinking ahead to picking songs that not only feel good to sing, but are saying something new for me and something new for the fans. And a lot of times I'll pick songs because I've covered certain grooves on other albums. You know, I've done a lot of blues, different kinds of blues. And basically, after this many studio records, I think 16 of those records are studio albums, I've basically refashioned as many different styles of the blues that I love. I mean, there's still more to come, I'm sure, in the future. But these songs just spoke to me and I wanted to do something different. It wasn't like a conscious choice. But when it came down to whittling away which ones were going to make it, I had a couple of songs that I wrote that they just did not -- I didn't feel as passionate about them as I did about these. So it's one of the fun parts of my job as an interpreter is to put them together in unlikely combinations and then to figure out how to put them in my show. And people say, "Why don't you ever do a whole blues record or a whole this album -- an Irish album," you know. And I would just get bored. So I just trust my instincts that I'm going to fall in love with these 11 or 12 songs. And you know, if I don't make the cut, these songs are as if I wrote them anyway. I have to believe every lyric I sing.
Q: What about God Was in the Water? Who wrote it and what's your take on it?
A: Well, the writers -- one of the writers I'm familiar with, his music, Randall Bramlett, who is a fantastic artist out of Georgia who I knew from playing in Stevie Winwood's band. He played baritone sax and sang and played keyboards as well. But it turns out, I found out through my friend Stephen Bruton, another great songwriter, he said, "Have you heard Randall's solo albums?" And I just -- like all of these songwriters that are represented on this record, I could have done five or six of their songs, easily And Randall is just -- this is one of the most original, beautiful sets of lyrics and just such a swampy groove. I don't think there's anyone that would argue with the point of view that God's everywhere and nobody's paying attention - or not enough.
A: And there's another co-writer, David Causey, who I haven't met, who I'm looking forward to meeting.
Q: Bonnie, does it make your red head spin to think that you've made 18 albums over the last 35 years?
A: You know, when I see other people that have like 50 or more (albums), then I just feel like a lightweight. Because I know what those years, those decades mean, all those tours that go with a record. So when people go, "Gee, why did you wait so long in between?" they don't realize that you've got a couple of European tours, Australia, New Zealand. Not even -- we didn't go to Japan. And we played 100 dates in the States. So you do three months inside, a couple of months -- you know, two or three months outdoors in the summertime. And, you know, you barely get home for a personal life and it's time to start thinking about the new record. So it seems like a lot, but God, compared to people like Springsteen, forget about it. And they write all their own material. So like I said, I'm doing the best I can, but it's plenty fast enough for me.
Q: Well, about the midway point of all those years was 1989, when Nick of Time came out.
A: Hmm hmmm...
Q: And you won a slew of Grammys. And that was followed by an even more successful record, Luck of the Draw, in '91. Can you still pinpoint that period as when your fortunes changed?
A: Oh, yeah. Are you kidding? Yeah, I mean, I paid off my mortgage. I was able to afford paying my band what they deserved.
A: A lot of people make that distinction in my career, you know, as the years on Warner, as the first 20 years and then it's almost been -- it's been 15 years since…that my fortunes did change. And it's really been incredible to have this kind of freedom to tour easily, to have a little financial security. But the best result has been the musical options that I've had and the political options I've had, to be able to make such a difference when I talk about Rhythm and Blues Foundation and then people actually put me on TV talking about that. Whereas before, I'd hold a press conference with some forest group and 30 people would show up and they were all, you know, preaching to the choir. So it's made a big difference in my life. And, you know, being sober has made a big difference. I've been sober one year longer than I used to party. So there's that demarcation as well.
Q: I was listening to Souls Alike. There isn't a straight-ahead blues song on the album, but there's some beautiful ballads. Two were cowritten by Maia Sharp. One, which Maia co-wrote with Liz Rose and Stephanie Chapman, we're about to listen to,
I Don't Want Anything to Change. What was it about this song that spoke to you?
A: You know, of all the tunes that my family and friends and other writers and journalists who have heard advance copies of the record, that's the song that people are saying, "You know, I don't know why I keep going back to that one." Boy, it really -- there's so much truth and depth in that message about admitting that you're in the place when you've just gotten crunched by somebody ditching you, and you just don't even want to get better yet. You just have to stay in that place. "I know eventually I'm going to start healing, but right now I've just go to sit here and I can't even pick up your stuff." And I've been there. And I know anybody that's had their heart broken understands. And it's just one of those great postcard moments of -- of sentiment and a deep feeling, a deep pain.
A: We heard this song -- I had all the songs picked for the record, and Maia sent me that one. And I ditched one of the tunes and we just went in the studio. That's the first take, as are most of the songs on the record. Really with very, very little -- some of them are literally the run-through take. And that was the case with this one.
Q: On October 5th, you're going to begin a year-long tour. So the road is your middle name, isn't it?
A: Oh, you got that.
Q: You must love it.
A: I do love it. And if I had to do it 11 months out of the year like I used to do in the ‘70s, which when you're young and you're hanging out and you're going out with somebody in the band and you're partying, it is the life that you choose. And it's a total blast. That's why your twenties are called your twenties, you know. But if I didn't have a home life -- if I didn't take the time to consciously make my home life as satisfying as my road life, by now, in my mid-50s, I'd be really -- it would be too exhausting. So I pace myself and I try to have people around me that I really get along with, that are quality people, just to know, as well as musicians and crew people. And I do. I've been incredibly blessed. So I love the challenge of an opening night in a different city every night and try to prove to my buddies in Cleveland that I'm just as bad as I was four years earlier. And that keeps me on my toes.
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Bonnie on Souls Alike
