APRIL NEWS
8th April 2008: Belgian National Radio 1 will stream Bettye live at Ancienne Belgique, Brussels.
9th April 2008: Bettye LaVette @ The Paradiso. The video will be streamed live.
End of April: The long awaited CD release of Bettye's 1982 Motown album,
"Tell Me A Lie". Re-issue by Reel Music.
Bettye LaVette was the musical guest on
Late Night with Conan O’Brien, January 16, 2008
"The Scene Of The Crime" Earns Grammy Nomination
for "Best Contemporary Blues Album"
Bettye LaVette continues her bold ascent with a GRAMMY nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album for her CD "The Scene of the Crime" (Anti- Records). Joined by the Drive-By Truckers as her backing band, Bettye’s essential new entry into the soul music canon channels more than 40 years of blood, sweat, and shattered dreams into one glorious catharsis.
“I haven’t been this happy since 1962 when this whole thing started,” declares an elated Bettye.
It was 35 years ago in Muscle Shoals – a decade after she scored a top-ten hit with her debut single “My Man – He’s A Lovin’ Man” – that Bettye recorded the career-defining masterpiece that never was: Atlantic Records inexplicably shelved the record. Scarred but not broken, Bettye persevered as a tireless performer, honing her craft and focusing her heartbreak.
Now "The Scene of the Crime" has indisputably become the career-defining masterpiece that is. On the heels of her critically lauded Anti- debut (2005’s I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise), SCENE has been garnering nonstop rave reviews – and not a few rhetorical questions:
NPR asks, "Is there any soul singer who brings more guts, more conviction and more emotion to her singing?” and Entertainment Weekly wonders, “Is there a more wrenching soul singer alive than Bettye LaVette?”
Elsewhere, the praise has been every bit as assertive as Bettye herself is in redefining cuts like Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s “Talking Old Soldiers,” Willie Nelson’s “Somebody Pick Up My Pieces,” and Don Henley’s “You Don’t Know Me At All” on "The Scene of the Crime":
“LaVette’s nuanced singing evokes prime Tina Turner with even more command,” says Rolling Stone. Adds USA Today, “This album…just rips, with some truly sublime peaks.” "The Scene of the Crime" is a smoldering revelation displaying an artist nearly a half century into her career who is only now approaching the peak of her considerable powers,” notes Paste. And the All Music Guide: “It gets better with each listen, and stands so far outside the realm of anything her better-known peers are doing today that it’s almost scary.”
In addition to earning Bettye her first ever GRAMMY nomination, SCENE has landed Bettye nonstop rave reviews, and three 2008 Blues Music Award (formerly the W.C. Handy Awards) nominations – for Album of the Year, Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year, and the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year.
Bettye LaVette Nominated for "International Artist of the Year" Award
The Toronto Blues Society's Maple Blues Awards
The Maple Blues Awards, Canada's National Award Program that promotes and recognizes outstanding achievement in blues music, has announced the nominees for 2008. Congratulation to Bettye LaVette for being nominated for "International Artist of the Year".
"The Scene of the Crime" was the album she was born to make.
It gets better with each listen, and stands so far outside the realm of anything her better-known peers are doing today that it's almost scary." - AMG
"Wow! I got chills when I listened to Bettye LaVette’s version of Choices. I can only hope that my version created a similar sensation. Her interpretation is so soulful, and conveys the feelings I had when I recorded the song – the thoughts that I had about some of the mistakes or choices I had made. She did an incredible job, and she is truly a ‘singer’s singer.”
George Jones"LaVette sings Scene of the Crime as if she's been backed into a corner and relishes the sensation. In fact, she's spent most of her 45-year career against the wall, from her journeywoman days on such small labels as Calla and Silver Fox to the dark-night-of-the-soul singer documented on
"Child of the Seventies", made in 1972 for Atlantic and mysteriously unreleased for three decades."
Village Voice
"An autobiographical look back at the long hard road she has traveled, but it also shows us the direction her current path has taken her. She is by no means a retro soul singer, but a "now" woman ready for the new experiences life has unfurled in front of her." Blues Bytes Pick Hit
Bloggers are also buzzing about "The Scene of the Crime":
MORE REVIEWS AND LISTEN TO "THEY CALL IT LOVE"
Bettye LaVette: THE COMEBACK KID
"The album's title, "Scene of the Crime," refers to where it was recorded: Muscle Shoals, Ala. Muscle Shoals is where LaVette recorded what's considered her 1972 masterwork, "Child of the '70s," but Atlantic Records shelved it, for no good reason anyone can figure.
How did it feel to go back to a place that caused her such heartbreak, after so long?
"If I had to liken it to anything, it would be revenge," LaVette admits. "I was the only one there fitting into a size six6!" she says, cracking herself up.But seriously: "My career has been cruel to me, but people have been kind to me, so that enabled me to revisit the scene of the crime. I'm just glad I was strong, and loud, just the way I was the last time they saw me. And that's been almost 50 years ago!"
Well, er, actually 35 years...... READ MORE
Look out for Bettye in the current issue of BLUES REVIEW featuring a cover story on Bettye.
Bettye is also featured in the latest issue of Paste magazine (below).
"Bettye LaVette isn't making a comeback..."
"Taking in the Calgary Folk Music Festival in early August provided a lesson in the criminally underrated, unknown and somehow, inexplicably left behind. Soul powerhouse Bettye LaVette, at age 61, isn't making a comeback, it's just that she was never recognized when she should have been. The near misses and frustrating anonymity of a career that never got off the ground during the Motown-era of the '60s has magically found an audience through sheer perseverance - and a little luck.
As a result of a collection of recordings from the late '60s with the Dixie Flyers (Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart), her 2005 release (I've Got My Own Hell To Raise) as well as her jaw-dropping performance at the CFMF, LaVette is proving that she is someone who can never be taken for granted again. Do yourself a favour and check into this woman."
Gerry Krochak, The Leader-Post
Read More on the CBS News website
Did we mention she won a few Music Awards along the way?!
Handy Award winners, Bettye LaVette & Little Milton.
Bettye appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman singing "Little Sparrow".
Bettye with Dan Aykroyd and Hubert Sumlin. Bettye performed with an all star group of musicians on Sirius Radio Network for the releaseof Dan Aykroyd’s and Ben Manilla's new book
“Elwood’s Blues, Interviews with the Blues Legends & Stars”.
At Joe's Pub: Diana Krall, Bettye and Elvis Costello who said of Bettye; "You've got a singer here who is willing to stretch and is not content to live in the safety zone".
Richie Havens and Bettye share a laugh - Photo: Kevin Kiley