Where most artists are content to sing a couple of songs from a new project mixed in with their hits when live in concert, the beauty for an artist like Bettye LaVette is that she doesn’t really have “hits” that one has heard on the radio, though she often records songs people have heard before as songs from the catalogs of Bob Dylan, Mickey Newbury, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Rosanne Cash, John Lennon, to name but a few. With this in mind, the criminally unknown LaVette performed her entire new album “Worthy,” on a lovely Cinco De Mayo night at Nashville’s new City Winery venue and she offered a master class in vocal interpretation, even as she missed a few lines here or there.To that point, Bettye joked about her age contributing to the slip ups but, honestly, it didn’t matter. This show was an experience with perhaps the best “unknown” singer in the world of music.
Worthy is an album with an apt title for if anyone is worthy of interpreting the songs she sings, it's Bettye LaVette. After performing the record, she also played selections from her other albums, most-notably her iconic 2005 album “I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise.” Songs from that album performed at City Winery included Aimee Mann’s “How Am I Different,” Fiona Apple’s “Sleep To Dream” and closing the show with an a cappella “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got”. This Sinead O’Connor gem kicks off that album.
Bettye LaVette was fun throughout the show with quips about the audience not knowing who wrote the songs, dancing along to the music and having an overall great time at a great new Nashville venue. If Bettye LaVette comes to your city, take a chance to listen to one of the most underrated singers to ever grace a stage.
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