Early on in her career, Bonnie Raitt decided that live shows were more important to her than records. She wanted to get out and reach people directly, without having to rely on hype, promotion and hustle. In the time since, she's done a lot of traveling, but though she still says she'd never want a hit record, the release of her third album may be the one that makes her a "star."
In the few years that Bonnie has been performing, her style has expanded. She began as a blues player in clubs around Philadelphia and Cambridge, playing as an opening act to idols like Mississippi Fred McDowell. But in time she added songs by contemporary songwriters, and wrote a few of her own as well. She
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still carries the image of the funky, hard-drinking-blues-mama, but now there's a wistfulness around the edges. Tough, sure, but with a hint of hidden tears.
In concert, Bonnie projects: She's right there, open and real. She moves with ease from classic bottleneck blues through old rock and soul numbers to melancholy ballads. When the feel is right the love songs are just as pure and dreamy as secrets shared by candlelight; she breathes a natural intimacy and belief into all her songs. Her raps tend to be stream-of-consciousness ramblings rather than the stage patter of many guitar strummers. More like a slightly loaded friend running down what's happened since you talked last.
Bonnie now tends toward a bit bigger set. Where she used to perform with just Freebo, the fretless bassman, now she's added piano and drums to fill out the sound, more like the records. When she signed with Warner Bros. a couple of years ago she copped a sizable advance and cut her first album on a four-track machine in Minnesota at 12-stringer Dave Ray's studio in the woods.
Bonnie chose to be "one of the boys" on the sessions, and as a result she wasn't as upfront as some thought she ought to be. The tapes were later re-mixed a bit (and lost some of the original feel), but the album remains a fine one. Though it's blues-oriented, it set the pattern for those to follow: mixed with blues standards are some Dixielandstyle numbers, a rock or soul standard or two, seasoned by ballads from some of the best contemporary songwriters.
Less than a year later Bonnie was back in the studio again, cutting Give It Up. Bonnie's guitar was more in evidence here, and her singing surer, but taken as a whole the album seemed a bit aimless, without the cohesive threads to make all the tunes at home with each other.
Which brings us to the new one, Taking My Time (the title comes from old mentor Spider John Koerner's song). There's a lot of variety here, but it seems to hang together better, it feels more of a piece.
Bonnie always said she wanted to sound like the Temptations, and their spirit is evoked on the opening cut, "You've Been in Love Too Long," an easy, rocking ballad with nice, cooking bass work. The contemporary songwriters are well-repre
