Booker T and Bettye LaVette
The Independent
Friday, May 8, 2009
Last night I saw Booker T. Jones, one of the titans of American music, and it really hit me how much he has contributed to Western pop culture. I was also digging his performance, as was everyone else at the sold-out show.
When I was growing up in the American South in the '60s, my parents kept the radio tuned to country or easy listening stations. When I had a chance to turn the dial, the music I heard was completely affected by Booker T. and the MGs and the sound of the Stax label. I didn't think about it too much at the time, but the grooves that came from Memphis laid the groundwork for what we know as soul music and provided the backbone for some of our country's greatest artistic statements.
And Friday night, there was soul to be had. Opener Bettye LaVette, enjoying a recent renaissance with two scorching soul albums (I've Got My Own Hell to Raise from 2005 and Scene of the Crime from 2007), schooled the crowd with some wrenching R&B. Dressed simply in a black sleeveless top and slacks, she belted out songs from the '60s, too, bringing out the Northern Soul in all of us. I've rarely heard an audience approve of a supporting act so fiercely. When she returned for an a cappella encore of Sinead O'Connor's "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" (from Hell to Raise), there was barely a dry eye in the house, and yes, your correspondent did succumb.
