Vocalist Bettye LaVette’s career dates back to the R&B days of Clyde McPhatter and Ben E. King, all the way through disco and even up to this century with a few hits to boast of. Her voice has a bit of fragility in it these days, but she delivers a lyric with old school soul in a way that make you feel you’re in a juke joint on the Chitlin’ Circuit. She’s got a Memphis Stew team here of Jay Belleroe/dr, Doyle BramhallII, Chris Bruce/b and Patrick Warren/p-B3 and they serve up blue plate soul food for La Vette as she gets funky and sassy on Bob Dylan’s “Unbelievable” and talks a lesson on the foreboding “Bless Us All.” Her church background comes up front as she testifies on “Worthy” and gets feisty with a humming B3 on the Rolling Stones piece “Complicated.” She can sound both defiant and vulnerable on the same tune, with a lovely guitar on “Undamned” and with a bluesy guitar on “Just Between You And Me…”70s soulful sounds are felt everywhere, particularly when the horns stop by for a bite to eat on the funky “Step Away.” This lady still has the fire in her belly!
Cherry Red Records