Bonnie Raitt on BBC4

[WingedWords]

BBC Four Sessions, Bonnie Raitt: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03kk1j5 via @bbciplayer

The Old Grey Whistle Test, Bonnie Raitt in Concert: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001648x via @bbciplayer

Caught up with these shows last night via BBC iPlayer. 2013 and 1976 respectively. My favourite electric slide player by a street.

Here's a snippet from the 1976 show.

 

[tubedude]

I've seen her live. She's a great singer but I like her playing more.

 

[loudboy]

I saw her on that 1976 tour, it was at a small college town and it was Freebo's birthday so they were partying hard. Bonnie couldn't remember which fret her capo went on, but she sang like an angel and played superbly.

I found this CD at a garage sale a few weeks ago. People that only caught on to her with "Nick Of Time" don't really understand what a great player she is. By then, she'd sort of settled into a few signature slide licks, but didn't play the hellacious acoustic/dobro stuff anymore.

 

[WingedWords]

I'll plead guilty to being a post-Nick of Time convert, but I do go back through her back catalogue with great enjoyment. I love her singing, but it's her playing that raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

I first saw her playing support to Clapton at the NEC Birmingham in the late 90s and was so impressed with her live performance I spent an arm and a leg to get a ticket from a scalper for her own gig at the Shepherd's Bush Empire a week or so later. Front row of the balcony and if you know the SBE you'll know how small it is: I was high enough up, but still close enough to read the set list at her feet. Best show I've ever seen: her and Richard Thompson are probably the only artists I'd bother to go and see on stage again.

 

[brookdalebill]

I've seen her live. She's a great singer but I like her playing more.

I’ve seen her live too.
I’ve been smitten ever since!

 

[KeithDavies 100]

Absolutely brilliant - one of my favourite artists. I've told this story in this forum before, but back in the 80s I'd seen Bonnie's name as a backing singer on some Little Feat albums I owned. That was all I knew about her, and we didn't have the internet back then. I was an ad for her playing a venue in Camden, London, and managed to get a ticket. In my youthful ignorance, because I only knew her as a backing singer on Little Feat albums, I somehow expected an older black woman, who would likely sing some blues stuff. This stunning redhead takes to the stage carrying a Strat, and I was caught somewhat off-guard! And I figured she would strum the guitar a bit. She had George Marinelli with her - who I still think is the coolest side-man in the business! - but when it we got the first guitar break there's this beautiful slide guitar and it's not from George! And, to quote @brookdalebill I, too, have been smitten ever since!

 

[tubedude]

I saw her in Orlando circa '86 or so in a small club called Cheek to Cheek. I waited out the happy hour crowd at a table 4 ft from the stage. She had a LPB Strat, not the famous brown one. It was the beginning of her popular resurgence in mainstream music. Her singing was pgreat, but her playing was glorious!
I wish I had seen her with Little Feat, as they are one of my favorites. I assume this was after Lowell left.
Day At The Dog Races is atypical for them but I love it best.

 

[WingedWords]

I just found this recent interview: