BETTYE LAVETTE Earns A Bounty Of Praise For New CD
DATE: OCTOBER 17, 2012
THE “MAGNIFICENT SOUL SINGER,”
BETTYE LaVETTE,
HAS EARNED
A BOUNTY OF PRAISE FOR
THANKFUL N’ THOUGHTFUL,
HER NEW CD
NEW YORK TIMES: “The magnificent soul singer Bettye LaVette’s latest album, ‘Thankful N’ Thoughtful,’ is an anatomy of bitter desolation, plunging deep to transform songs like Bob Dylan’s ‘Everything Is Broken,’ the Black Keys’ ‘I’m Not the One,’ Gnarls Barkley’s ‘Crazy’ and the title song, from Sly and the Family Stone.” 9/9/12
LOS ANGELES TIMES: “LaVette seems determined to isolate the basic character of the material. She takes these songs down to street level, stripping them of everything inessential in order to find out what they have to say about life or love.” 10/5/12
AMERICAN SONGWRITER: “If soul singer Bettye LaVette has proved anything…it’s that you don’t need to write a song to get plenty out of it…her covers are more like rewrites. That’s the ultimate compliment for a vocalist and this is another compelling example of LaVette’s finely tuned interpretative talents taking songs to places you might not have imagined.” 9/24/12
HITS: “A wild woman with a sassy streak and a love of good herb, Bettye LaVette may well be the current Queen of Soul, an interpreter in the classic sense.” 7/26/12
PASTE: “Bettye LaVette’s voice, sanded raw and consumed by emotion is a powerful witness: strong, down and above all, real. Those attributes infuse Thankful N’ Thoughful with a truth in being, a delivery rendered from experience that declares ‘I know’ just by the way she squares up to the songs.” 9/25/12
ESQUIRE: “…few modern soul singers have the authentic wear-and-tear to deliver a fiery fuck-you quite like Bettye LaVette.” 10/1/12
TIME MAGAZINE: “…deftly interpreted cover songs about emotional bruises…her utter transformation of Gnarls Barkley’s ‘Crazy’ is the highlight.” 8/20/12
BLURT: “LaVette is in incredibly fine form, squeezing every amount of emotional resonance out of every track, her voice a well burnished, emotionally charged instrument that she plays like a master.” 9/26/12
UNCUT (UK): “LaVette has a voice capable of taking any song on a cathartic journey. Dylan, Neil Young, Tom Waits, et al are interpreted with visceral layers of deep soul even their authors could never have imagined.” 11/12
ALLMUSIC: “Thankful N’ Thoughtful finds her taking her blues, gospel, and soul-influenced singing style into deep, swampy, and edgy American roots territory, and she makes it all work with a sting and bite to her phrasing that ranks her as one of the best living soul singers…She is still a marvel.” 9/25/12
M MUSIC MAGAZINE: “Bettye LaVette’s delicious rasp and emotional delivery make her a top-notch interpreter of songs…Gritty and graceful, it’s the epitome of LaVette’s sound—and the woman herself.” 10/12
BBC MUSIC: “It's a marvelous, spine-tingling journey around some not-so-obvious American songs, and also a stunning tutorial in different American music styles, strung together by LaVette's sensuous singing...Possibly the best set of songs she's ever recorded.” 9/26/12
NEW YORK TIMES: “the music grounds itself in 1960s soul, stauchly chugging along as Ms LaVette’s bruised, caustic, adamant voice plunges into every line, coming through the songs as an unflinching survivor.” 9/21/12