Known for a sultry fusion of blues, country, rock and folk, Bonnie Raitt has been releasing albums since 1971. Almost two decades later, her career went stellar with the multi-platinum album Nick Of Time. Its follow-up, 1991’s Luck Of The Draw, included the über ballad I Can’t Make You Love Me, later covered by George Michael, Adele and many more.
Below, the Californian-born singer, guitarist and political activist previews her upcoming European tour.
Having toured here two years ago, this is a fairly speedy return.
I wanted to play more than one city in Scotland, and other places in England that we didn’t get to last time, so I’m excited to be coming back again.
Prior to that 2023 tour you won three more Grammys in one night for your album Just Like That…, bringing your total haul of Grammys to a whopping thirteen.
The genre of Americana has gotten so big, I wasn’t surprised to get nominated in that category [for the song Made Up Mind], but I was really surprised to win Song Of The Year [with the album’s title track]. The Daily Mail had me on the cover saying: “Unknown blues singer wins Grammy”. That cracked me up.
Having success with a self-written song must have felt sweet, given that you are sometimes seen as an ‘interpreter’ rather than a writer.
It was wonderful. I was even more thrilled by the response to that song generally as it’s about organ donation, so if it brought more attention to that subject then it was doubly sweet.
But you’re not precious about the source of your material: a good song is a good song, regardless of who wrote it.
Oh yeah. And it would be quite boring for me to have my own view only. I love mixing a Richard Thompson song with an Al Green cover or something by John Prine. That’s part of the joy of what I do and why I’ve kept it up for so long, and also hopefully some of the reason that the fans love what I do.
Your most famous recording, I Can’t Make You Love Me, was a previously uncelebrated song written by a pair of unknown songwriters.
It was great that they [Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin] sent that song to me. When I heard it I almost fell over due to its greatness. It’s a stunning, classic heartbreak song with sophisticated lyrics.
Achieving mainstream success with your tenth album, Nick Of Time, at the age of forty, did you appreciate it more?
Absolutely. I don’t regret anything that happened until that point, but it was frustrating not to have the records in the store when I had worked so hard, selling out tours and working ten months per year. Also, I had been sober for a year when I wrote the album, which is sort of what it’s about.
You were briefly signed to Paisley Park Records by Prince.
Actually, I wasn’t, though we did discuss a collaboration. I had been dropped by Warners, and he said he loved my music. I went to Minnesota to meet him, but all he played me was finished songs that were not in my key and not topics that I would sing about, whereas I had wanted to work on songs from scratch. So it never got off the ground.
What was Prince like, in your experience?
He was pretty shy. You’d have dinner with him and he wasn’t good at making eye contact. But otherwise he was like you expected.
For an artist, what’s it like to play at a church of music like London’s Royal Albert Hall?
Oh, my goodness. I was so nervous the first time. I had never felt that I would get to that place, and, incredibly, we actually sold it out.
What about the songs you’ll be playing on this tour? Do you stick rigidly to a set-list?
No. I’m always conscious of what we played the last time we were in a city. This time, with no new album to promote, I can relax and pull out some deep cuts.
Three years down the line from Just Like That…, are you prepping a follow-up?
No. We’ve been on the road for so long there hasn’t been the time.
As an extraordinarily principled and compassionate person, and also a social activist, living in the US right now, each day must bring a new and different nightmare?
You couldn’t have put it any better. It’s an unprecedented situation. Our immigrant community is being rounded up unfairly, then there are the threatened cuts in Medicaid, and now there’s no more research on vaccines for the pandemic. The climate crisis gets worse, they’re looking to drill off the California Coast. There are no firefighters for the next disaster. It’s an illegal takeover by a man who is, in my mind, a threat to our democracy.
Do you fear for the nation’s future?
I do. And also for that of the world. We need to work together, and it isn’t happening.
Bonnie Raitt’s European tour begins on June 1 in Dublin, while US dates begin in August. For full dates and tickets, visit Bonnie's website.
