Bonnie Raitt (album)

Bonnie Raitt
Studio album by Bonnie Raitt
Released	November 1971
Recorded	August 1971
Genre	Rock
Length	37:20
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Willie Murphy
Bonnie Raitt chronology
Bonnie Raitt (1971) Give It Up (1972)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	A+[2]
Robert Christgau	A–[3]
Rolling Stone	(favorable)[4]

Bonnie Raitt is the self-titled debut album by Bonnie Raitt, released in 1971 (see 1971 in music). A straight-blues affair, it was recorded at an empty summer camp on Enchanted Island, about 30 miles west of Minneapolis on Lake Minnetonka. "We recorded live on four tracks because we wanted a more spontaneous and natural feeling in the music", Raitt wrote in the album's liner notes, "a feeling often sacrificed when the musicians know they can overdub their part on a separate track until it's perfect."

Though album sales were modest, Bonnie Raitt was warmly received by rock critics. "[A]n unusual collection of songs performed by an unusual assortment of musicians", wrote Rolling Stone.^[4] "Raitt is a folkie by history but not by aesthetic", wrote Robert Christgau^[3] in his Consumer Guide column. "She includes songs from Steve Stills, the Marvelettes, and a classic feminist blues singer named Sippie Wallace because she knows the world doesn't end with acoustic song-poems and Fred McDowell. An adult repertoire that rocks with a steady roll, and she's all of twenty-one years old."

Track listing

1. "Bluebird" (Stephen Stills) – 3:29
2. "Mighty Tight Woman" (Sippie Wallace) – 4:20
3. "Thank You" (Raitt) – 2:50
4. "Finest Lovin' Man" (Raitt) – 4:42
5. "Any Day Woman" (Paul Siebel) – 2:23
6. "Big Road" (Tommy Johnson) – 3:31
7. "Walking Blues" (Robert Johnson) – 2:40
8. "Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead" (Ivy Hunter, Clarence Paul, William "Mickey" Stevenson) – 2:53
9. "Since I Fell for You" (Buddy Johnson) – 3:06
10. "I Ain't Blue" (John Koerner, Willie Murphy) – 3:36
11. "Women Be Wise" (Sippie Wallace) – 4:09

Personnel

• Bonnie Raitt - acoustic guitar, guitar, piano, electric guitar, steel guitar, vocals, background vocals, slide guitar
• John Beach - piano
• Peter Bell - acoustic guitar, guitar, percussion, electric bass, electric guitar, background vocals
• Stephen Bradley - drums
• Freebo - bass, tuba, vocals, background vocals, fretless bass
• Russell Hagen - guitar, electric guitar
• Voyle Harris - trumpet
• Eugene Hoffman - tenor saxophone, cowbell
• Maurice Jacox - flute, baritone saxophone, wind
• Reeve Little - background vocals
• Willie Murphy - guitar, percussion, piano, keyboards, vocals, background vocals
• Paul Pena - bass, background vocals
• Steve Raitt - percussion, sound effects, background vocals
• A.C. Reed - tenor saxophone
• Chris Rhodes - background vocals
• Douglas Spurgeon - trombone
• Junior Wells - harmonica

Production

• Producer: Willie Murphy
• Engineers: Dave Ray, Sylvia Ray
• Remixing: Kendall Pacios
• Series producer: Gregg Geller
• Project coordinator: Jo Motta
• Arrangers: Bonnie Raitt, John Beach
• Liner Notes: Bonnie Raitt

References

1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Bonnie Raitt (album) at AllMusic. Retrieved 10 November 2004.
2. Gordon, Robert (23 August 1991). "Bonnie Raitt on the Record". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
3. Christgau, Robert (December 30, 1971). "Consumer Guide (22)". The Village Voice (New York). Retrieved April 28, 2013.
4. Hamel, Chris (February 3, 1972). "Bonnie Raitt". Rolling Stone (101). Archived from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 6 August 2011.

External links

• Bonnie Raitt at MySpace (streamed copy where licensed)