Bonnie Raitt talks about Redlands, blues history

Bonnie Raitt talks about Redlands, blues history
January 20, 2011
By VANESSA FRANKO
InlandSoCal

Bonnie Raitt usually is identified as a blueswoman, but her diverse catalog can't be categorized in a mere genre -- the accomplished guitarist has drawn inspiration from artists as diverse as the Rolling Stones and Zimbabwean world-beat master Oliver Mtukudzi.

Raitt grew up in a musical household -- her father was Broadway singer John Raitt and her mother was pianist/singer Marge Goddard -- but said she considered music her hobby.

She was a student at Harvard/Radcliffe College when she started performing live, the start of a journey to eventual mainstream success, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, in addition to a number of Grammy Awards. Her hits include "Thing Called Love," "Something to Talk About" and "I Can't Make You Love Me."

In a recent telephone interview, Raitt said she is working on an album for release in 2012.

Besides her music, Raitt is an activist involved with various causes, among them the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group and beneficiary of some of the proceeds of her upcoming shows.

Raitt took some time to talk before her run of tour dates that bring her to Pala Casino Spa Resort today and at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio on Saturday.
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Q: Your father is an alum of the University of Redlands here and was very involved with the school. Do you ever spend much time down this way? Do you ever make it down here beyond concerts?

A: No, not really. When I was a kid and still living at home, we used to go to the Festival of Lights and different university events.

We were in touch with a lot of my dad's college alumni, and my mom went there as well.
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Bonnie Raitt will perform at Pala and Fantasy Springs this weekend. The blueswoman's parents both attended the University of Redlands.

I lived in Northern California and was on tour most of the time, so by the time I got back to California, we were mostly just doing our Los Angeles family reunions, so we didn't get a chance to go to Redlands as much as I would have liked.

Q: When you were in Cambridge, you started playing the guitar publicly and you ended up opening for people like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. In other interviews, you've said you've learned a lot from them -- not only technique but offstage as well. What do you think were some of the most enduring lessons from being around some of those greats?

A: It was one of the great gifts of my life -- not only to be my dad's daughter and get to see that part of the music business that wasn't so concerned with commercial success but just loving performing and doing great music for the sake of the joy that it brings and the joy it brings you. And I would say when I hooked up with the blues artists, that was another thing they had in common.

They were also in their 40s and 50s at a time when I was in my 20s, and they just seemed to be so nonplussed. Granted, these were guys who seemed to be enjoying a resurgence in popularity, but they seemed to be confident and not too bitter about the music business. ... What I learned from them was a sense of perspective that the joy of playing music for the audience and what goes on is a lot more important than whether you sell or whether you have royalties. This business isn't necessarily going to be fair or generous to you, so you better just enjoy what you're doing and be grateful for every gig. I learned that from my dad as well.

Q: You mentioned the joy of playing live. Before you had the big commercial success, you built a loyal following from the beginning, from your years of touring. What do you still love about performing live?

A: I think I got it from my dad growing up, watching him perform on Broadway and doing concerts. Still, to this day, I can't believe, and neither could he, even at the end, that we got paid for doing something that was basically a hobby. Neither one of us expected to do it with our lives. The joy of seeing the audience not only know your songs, but delight in you being there. And if they don't know who you are, and you're starting out and you're opening for someone, then it's a great challenge to try to win them over and make sure they remember you when they leave. ...

After you get more established, then it's a question of saying, "Well, I want to be as good as I was the last time." I learned from my dad, to give 100 percent and people will come back and see you if you mean everything that you say and you play every show as if it was equally important.

You don't say New York or London is more important than Topeka, Kansas. And then, eventually, 30 or 40 years later, maybe those people will still come and see you. That's been my blessing, regardless of whether I won any Grammys 20 years ago, people are still coming to see me and I think it's because of, not the work ethic, but the level of commitment at being as real and as good as you can possibly be every performance