The vacuum left by the pandemic restrictions continue to fill. Life has been busy, these past few days alone full of islands and mountains, playing pop-up and wine-bar gigs and attending two shows in a row at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley.
On Saturday, we were in our seats for a show at the Greek when a friend let us know her two extra tickets to see Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples the following night were ours.
I bought tickets to the Maren Morris show months ago, having become aware of her music after listening to the Highwomen project a few years back. Morris is a a poppy country artist and her show was likewise a friendly confection of assured musicianship straddling Americana, pop and rock. I was more moved by her voice than I expected and glad to see two other women in her ensemble. Her band really felt like a band, nearly everyone singing backup at times. I left the show inspired… and curious to see the contrast between her act and the two legacy artists I’d hear the next night.
Decades ago, when I was interning at the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group in college, I noticed Janet, who managed most my work there, had two tickets to a Catalyst show pinned to the cork board above her desk.
“Bonnie Raitt,” Janet said looking at me try to read the type. “She's great. It’s sold out though.”
The Catalyst appearance would likely be the last time Raitt played a venue that size. But soon after a friend gave me a mix tape of Bonnie's songs and I was hooked, too. Great songs, a voice full of truth and emotion and she could rip on the slide guitar?
An inspiration, a bellwether…which she continues to be.
I've seen Bonnie several times in the decades since I first listened to that mixtape, but this was my first time seeing the legendary Staples perform live. We were all instantly wowed. Morris’s show was excellent — and it will be interesting to see how she’s tempered by time — but Sunday evening felt like the musical equivalent of standing in an old grown forest. Two seasoned performers with wise, weathered, inimitable voices, Mavis Staples a sort of Mother Tree, “getting loose” and praising the lord and laughing all at the same time.
And Bonnie was in full command: of her band, her voice, her guitar, and as happy to see the crowd as we her. We couldn't help but stand up and dance and sway to her chestnuts — 'Nick of Time' 'Angel From Montgomery,' 'Something to Talk About' and 'I Can't Make You Love Me.'
My favorite part, though, was when she and her band dug into an African Blues tune ‘Back Around’ (originally recorded with Habib Koité) that she said they'd hadn’t played live much before because "they didn't know if they could pull it off.” The band focused during that tune in an entirely new way — bowed bass, acoustic guitar playing an interesting rhythm, Bonnie’s slide and voice. Now that felt alive. I hope she does more in that vein.