All Of It (WNYC) – Grammy Listening Party with Bettye LaVette

Air Date: January 18, 2024
Host: Alison Stewart
Guest: Bettye LaVette

Episode Overview

This episode celebrates Bettye LaVette’s seventh (or possibly eighth) Grammy nomination, focusing on her album LaVette, nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Host Alison Stewart sits down with the iconic soul/blues singer for a vibrant conversation about her career, creative process, and the stories behind the making of her new record. The show also features several tracks from the album and explores LaVette’s approach to song interpretation, collaboration, and resilience in the music industry.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Bettye LaVette’s Early Years and Musical Upbringing

• Unlikely Origins: LaVette reflects on her beginnings, having grown up in Muskegon, Michigan, in a household where her family sold corn liquor and hosted impromptu gatherings with a jukebox at home ([05:10]).
• Influences: She was exposed to a wide range of music—her father loved gospel and blues, her mother enjoyed popular and country-western, and her sister followed the contemporary stars of the time (B.B. King, Esther Phillips) ([05:13]).
• On Her Childhood:

  “At 18 months old, I knew songs by B.B. King and Esther Phillips.”
  — Bettye LaVette ([05:26])

2. The Unconventional Path to a Musical Career

• LaVette admits she didn’t have clear ambitions to be a singer early on, instead using her musical talent to enjoy teenage pursuits, and only became serious about a career around the ages of 20-25 ([04:00]).

• “You can be taught to do a lot of things, but you can’t be taught to sing... only 2% of the people and birds in the world can sing.”
  — Bettye LaVette ([04:20])

• Her career has spanned decades, marked by bursts of recognition and success, but also years of obscurity. Her major “breaks” include performing at the Kennedy Center Honors and Barack Obama’s inaugural party, which brought her to larger audiences ([07:25]).

• "I keep telling my audience I'm becoming the Susan Lucci of rhythm and blues.”
  — Bettye LaVette ([08:28])

3. Collaboration & Musical Choices on LaVette

• On Songwriter Randall Bramblett:
  LaVette considers him "the best songwriter [she’s] heard in the past 30 years," attracted by the variety and depth in his material ([11:20]).
• Song Selection Process:
  LaVette and her husband curated a “folder” of Bramblett’s songs over the course of 10–12 years, eventually making them the core of the album ([11:34]).

• “I like writers who write about Santa Claus and murderers. … Randall writes about just the darndest things. How do you write about being lazy?”
  — Bettye LaVette ([12:46])

4. A Unique Recording Experience

• COVID-19 Challenges: LaVette contracted COVID at the start of recording sessions. Instead of delaying, they laid down tracks remotely, with all musicians and LaVette “together” via screens ([17:31]).

• “I did it just the way you and I are talking. … All of these people had a personal involvement with me some kind of way.”
  — Bettye LaVette ([18:01])

• Band Cohesion: Many musicians on LaVette have long personal or professional ties with her—e.g., Ray Parker Jr., John Batiste.

5. Approach to Song Interpretation

• LaVette is adamant that lyrics are paramount in her interpretation: if the lyrics aren’t compelling or true to her, she won’t sing the song ([24:19]).
• She avoids “10 and two songs” (two short verses and ten choruses), and refuses lyrics that contradict her philosophy or age ([24:50]).

• “I can’t sing something that’s stupid. It can be funny, but it can’t be stupid.”
  — Bettye LaVette ([25:15])

• “The only words I don’t use is I’ll kill myself, I’ll die, or boy... I don’t know what I’m gonna do. But I ain’t gonna die.”
  — Bettye LaVette ([25:30])

6. Working with Producer Steve Jordan

• Communication & Chemistry: Jordan "speaks music for me" and understands her direction even when she describes it in unconventional terms (“I want it to go like, jigga, jigga, jigga…”).
• Shared Experience: A lifetime of similar musical adventures leads Jordan to intuitively grasp LaVette’s needs, streamlining the creative process ([15:49], [16:10]).

7. Making Songs Her Own

• To illustrate her interpretive distinctiveness, the show plays both Randall Bramblett’s and LaVette’s versions of “Plan B,” revealing her signature transformation in pacing, vibe, and emotion ([22:12]–[24:08]).

• “Well, I’m older than him.”
  — Bettye LaVette, on why her version feels different ([24:08])

Notable Quotes

• On Stage Milestones:

  “First time I went on stage was the first time I went on stage, first time I’d ever seen a live show. … It has been step by step.”
  — Bettye LaVette ([07:31])

• On Longevity:

  “This is my seventh Grammy nomination, maybe eighth. … I’m becoming the Susan Lucci of rhythm and blues.”
  — Bettye LaVette ([08:28])

• On Song Choice (“Plan B”):

  “I like the slickness of it, and I like the fact that it’s very true. I don’t know how to do anything else. I ain’t got no Plan B.”
  — Bettye LaVette ([21:48])

• On Life and Lyrics:

  “If you leave me, I don’t know what I’m gonna do, but I ain’t gonna die.”
  — Bettye LaVette ([25:35])

• Heartwarming Listener Moment:
  A listener texts in to praise LaVette’s Kennedy Center performance:

  “Tell Ms. LaVette her performance on the Kennedy Center Honors sing the Who’s ‘Love, Reign o'er Me’ is a video I return to on YouTube several times a year. It’s pure perfection. Love her madly.”
  — Listener ([10:34])

  LaVette’s reply:

  “Oh, text him back and tell him I love him too.”
  — Bettye LaVette ([10:58])

Highlighted Musical Segments (Timestamps)

• Don’t Get Me Started (excerpt)
  [02:42]–[03:18]

• In the Meantime (feat. John Mayer)
  [09:07]–[10:16]

• Lazy and I Know It
  [13:18]–[14:50]

• Mess About It (feat. Ray Parker Jr., John Batiste)
  [19:40]–[21:21]

• Plan B (Randall Bramblett original and LaVette version)
  [22:20]–[24:04]

• It’s All Right (show outro)
  [27:01]–[28:00]

Memorable Moments

• Virtual Recording Session During COVID:
  The entire recording band worked over remote video, with LaVette conducting and singing while musicians from around the world played along (and could see her face on their iPads).
• Artist Philosophy:
  LaVette’s refusal to sing lyrics about dying for love, or that lack substance, gives her performances a lived-in authenticity and wry grit.
• Laughter and Camaraderie:
  The episode is filled with warm, teasing banter between Stewart and LaVette, with mutual admiration evident throughout—LaVette’s humor and honesty shine.

Episode Conclusion

Alison Stewart wraps up by inviting Bettye LaVette to visit the studio in person and closes with the track “It’s All Right” ([27:01]). The deep dive into LaVette—the album and the artist—offers listeners insight into a singular voice shaped by decades in American music, resilience, and an ever-honest approach to the craft.