Bonnie Raitt’s 10 favourite duets of her career
The legendary Bonnie Raitt once said: “There’s nothing like living a long time to create a depth and soulfulness in your music”. Over a decades-long career, she did just that, collaborating with the likes of Ray Charles and Jimmie Vaughan in the process. Raitt is a rock and blues icon, known for her powerful vocals and skill on the slide guitar. She refuses to fade into the background like her 1970s counterparts. Her quiet dedication to recording blues meant she shot to international acclaim at age 40, a feat for any musician, but even more so as a female artist.
Raitt studied her male peers while they were at their peak, collaborating with many of them and producing a body of music full of original songs, blues standards and covers. She estimates that in her 50-year career, she appeared on more than 100 songs as a guest artist. As a session musician in her early days, Raitt kept a watchful eye, looking at the longevity of people’s careers and what it was that kept audiences listening.
“My role models were people that were aging, just getting more experienced and richer in their tones and in their musical abilities,” she told NPR. “Those that continued to stretch and try new things have always been an inspiration, whether it’s Mick [Jagger] and Keith [Richards] or Tony Bennett or my dad or B.B. King or Charles and Ruth Brown – all of the people that I was so lucky enough to be touring with and look up to as my mentors, they seem to embrace being older and their position of emeritus, you know, being honoured.”
Raitt sang duets with many of the artists she named, some of them being favourite collaborations in her storied career. In a shortlist given to Billboard, she reflected on what those songs meant to her. Her 1989 track with John Lee Hooker, ‘I’m in the Mood’ might qualify as her favourite of all time, given that it earned a Grammy Award for ‘Best Traditional Blues Album’. But she never needed accolades to enjoy being part of these songs, and her duet with Jimmie Vaughan on ‘The Pleasure’s All Mine’ was loved just because she could watch it back on YouTube.
Raitt, an industry powerhouse herself, often teamed up with some of the biggest names in music. Recalling her performance of ‘I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues’ with Tony Bennett, she joked: “Not sure I’ve got the right to sing with Tony Bennett, but I sure as hell didn’t refuse”. Similarly, she appeared on Ray Charles track ‘Do I Ever Cross Your Mind’. The collaboration appeared on what was his last album, Genius Loves Company, and even though he wasn’t his usual full force amid serious illness, Raitt was delighted: “Still, I got to sing with the man!”
Raitt has often spoken about starting her career vowing to sound like the most seasoned blues singer she could, smoking and drinking her voice into submission to nail her trademark husky tone. But it was working alongside her idols that provided the most lessons. Singing with Willie Nelson, whose dedication to smoking and singing is well known, was another highlight. “I really only sang the background,” she said, “But the song still stays in my heart.”
Of all the duets that have stayed with her, it was those recordings with her father she found the most moving. Raitt appeared on three tracks of Broadway Legend, and it was a cover of ‘The Pajama Game’ that quickly became her favourite. Recalling the 1995 song, she said it was a “daddy-daughter moment to cherish forever”/
Bonnie Raitt’s 10 favourite duets:
- ‘I’m in the Mood’ – with John Lee Hooker (1989)
- ‘Someone To Love’ – with Charles Brown (1992)
- ‘Hey There’ – with John Raitt (1995)
- ‘I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town’ – with Ruth Brown (1997)
- ‘I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues’ – with Tony Bennett (2001)
- ‘You Remain’ – with Willie Nelson (2001)
- ‘Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?’ – with Ray Charles (2004)
- ‘A Sunday Kind of Love’ – with Alicia Keys (2012)
- ‘The Pleasure’s All Mine’ – with Jimmie Vaughan (2014)
- ‘Wrap It Up’ – with Brittany Howard (2014)
