LaVette! – Jay-Vee Records
If you are looking for some gritty R&B and soul, with hints back to Muscle Shoals, then you have come to the right place. Bettye LaVette keeps cranking out the tunes, six decades into her career, and her voice is as powerful as ever! All of LaVette’s swagger comes out in this covers records of Randall Bramblett penned tracks. Bramblett has been a super-machine session musician and has worked with (and toured with) Traffic, Greg Allman, Bonnie Raiit, and Robbie Robertson. On LaVette!, Bettye enlists the help of Steve Winwood, Ray Parker, Jr., John Mayer, Jon Batiste, and Pedrito Martinez to add to the dynamic blues and funk, as she stamps her signature voice on these songs.
“Mess About It,” (track 8) features a slick strumming funky guitar (compliments of Ray Parker, Jr.) that provides the base layer for a slinking carefree jam. Track 2, “Don’t Get Me Started,” which features Steve Winwood on the organ, showcases her energetic soulful raspy voice – just makes you wanna groove to the beat! “Hard to Be Human,” track 9, has a strutting tempo that sounds at times like a James Brown tune, complete with horns gracing the rhythm. She completely dominates the spotlight and drenches the listener with heavy and electric elegance with her vocalizing.
Track listing –
1: See Through Me (feat. Pedrito Martinez)
2: Don’t Get Me Started (feat. Steve Winwood
3: Lazy (And I Know It)
4: Sooner Or Later (feat. Anthony Hamilton, Ray Parker Jr. & Rev. Charles Hodges)
5: Plan B
6: Concrete Mind
7: In the Meantime (feat. John Mayer)
8: Mess About It (feat. Ray Parker Jr. & Jon Batiste)
9: Hard To Be A Human
10: I’m Not Gonna Waste My Love
11: It’s Alright
Favorites: 5**, 2**, 9**, 8**, 7**, 4**, and 10*. Just an amazingly fun and hellfire hot album.
– (h)earwitness