Bettye LaVette Thankful N’ Thoughtful
Bettye Lavette is a survivor through and through. One of many soul and R&B singers in the 60’s and 70’s, LaVette never really found much mainstream success outside of a Top 40 R&B song here and there and a disco hit. After releasing a variety of albums into the 80’s and a run on Broadway, her career seemed destined to never take off. At the turn of the millennium, however, a fan of her’s made a big discovery of previously unreleased material. What followed was a Comeback Blues Album Of The Year award along with inclusion on a number of Best Of 2005 lists with her album I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise. Her latest effort Thankful N’ Thoughtful celebrates her 50 years in the music business. She covers many of the most influential songs released in that time. Her soulful style explodes through her vocals on the lead track “Everything Is Broken”. She tackles the difficult challenge of turning Gnarls Barkley hit “Crazy” into a mellow lounge tune, but she pulls it off beautifully. She makes Neil Young’s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” her own but at the same time keeps the original emotion of the song intact. She’s faced many challenges throughout her career but she keeps fighting through them. Her hard work has paid off and she’s finally getting the recognition she deserves, even if it took a few decades to get there.
