Bonnie Raitt’s favourite Christmas song
When the Bonnie Raitt track ‘Just Like That’ won ‘Song of the Year’ at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards in 2023, many modern music fans were left in shock online. They were as unsure of who Raitt was as they were certain that Taylor Swift, Adele, Harry Styles, or Beyoncé would take home the award.
It really ought to have come as no surprise, though. Raitt has been racking up one award after another for three decades – going on four – including a total of 30 Grammy nominations and 13 wins, her 2000 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and is considered among many as being one of the greatest singers alive.
Since her 1971 debut, she has been one of America’s foremost blues songwriters and song interpreters. With so much smoke and depth in her voice, she is as heartfelt and honest as they come, and backs up her breathy vocals with a soulful and sincere slide guitar style which is second to none.
She has reached number one on the album charts and sold out stadiums and theatres around the world. Raitt cut her teeth at the start of her career, opening shows for blues giants like Muddy Waters, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Son House and John Lee Hooker. Since then, she has not only made a name for herself, but has also collaborated with fellow legends like Warren Zevon, John Prine, Little Feat, Leon Russell, Jackson Browne and the Pointer Sisters, earning pride of place as one of the most respected musicians among her peers today.
One thing she hasn’t ever done in her long, meandering and meaningful career, though, is to make a Christmas record. It was at Christmas in 1957, at the age of eight, when she was given her first guitar and took her first steps towards success.
But while she hasn’t recorded a full album of festive songs herself, she did duet with blues icon Charles Brown when he re-recorded one of his biggest hits in ‘Merry Christmas Baby’, for the A Very Special Christmas 2 album in 1992.
Matching Browne’s piano virtuosity with her bluesy guitar, Raitt’s younger yet earthy voice contrasts beautifully with Browne’s ageing croon. Their performance feels restrained and laid-back but carries an underlying tension, always on the brink of letting loose. The pair share undeniable chemistry, singing about feeling “mighty fine” thanks to the music on their radio. By the end, they leave their audience feeling just as mighty fine with the music they’re playing.
The pair took their duet to the stage, too, in a 1992 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. With Brown behind the piano and Raitt perched up on a stool opposite him, the two trade an even stronger vocal than they did on the album.
When Raitt was asked by Vulture in 2022 what her favourite Christmas song was, she couldn’t name anything else but this one, explaining that “getting to duet with the great R&B legend Charles Brown on his iconic ‘Merry Christmas Baby’ was a high point in my life. And to have it be a part of the wonderful A Very Special Christmas 2 compilation album produced to benefit the Special Olympics makes it even more sweet”.
