Album Review: Bettye Lavette - Thankful N Thoughtful

There's been a darkness running through the records of US soul songstress Bettye LaVette since she finally broke through from obscurity with 2005's I've Got My Own Hell To Raise, 43-years since she cut her first single. Her voice lends itself to a grittier brand of soul, her interpretations of other peoples' songs giving them a dark and dirty overhaul and, while it hasn't always been infallible, its power is almost constantly unmistakable. Thankful N' Thoughtful is a loosely themed collection; songs of alienation and despair, emotionally bleak but well-loved pieces of music from throughout the modern age. It's a good fit for the way LaVette and her band approach their interpretations.

Her weathered voice takes Bob Dylan's Everything Is Broken to an even more desolate place than it has been before and a slinky rendition of The Black Keys' I'm Not The One gives it more class than the Akron duo could ever wish for. Kim McLean's The More I Search (The More I Die) gets a pastoral touch up with banjo and sparse slide guitar showing, much like her 2007 Drive-By Truckers collaboration Scene Of The Crime, that LaVette is able to stamp her powerful impressions on country music as well. Beth Neilsen-Chapman's Fair Enough and Gnarls Barkey's Crazy are crushingly forlorn, but Savoy Brown's I'm Tired, Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and Patty Griffin's Time Will Do The Talking are bizarrely pleasant, while still keeping with the theme.

The ebb and flow of mood, the diversity of source material and the overall quality of the performances here make this one of LaVette's finest pieces.