Schedule
Friday, September 15, 2023 at 8:00 pm (Main Stage)
Bonnie is back!
To those of us who love the blues and the American singer-songwriter tradition, Bonnie Raitt’s recent Grammy win for Song of the Year for Just Like That, was a case of “’bout time.” With her smoky, nuanced voice, she has long been known as the supreme interpreter of songs by everyone from John Prine to John Hiatt. But her own songs— Nick of Time, Give It Up or Let Me Go, Sweet Forgiveness and Undone, to name but a few — belong firmly in the American storyteller catalogue, songs as relatable and deeply human as those of her idols, Prine and Hiatt.
Her blues journey started in her college days and though her catalogue ranges from ballads to story-songs, her roots are in the blues. She cites Sippie Wallace, Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker as early influences. It’s evident in her sweet slide guitar work and those soulful, committed vocals. That she intimately knew her mentors is evident in her work.
“I’m certain that it was an incredible gift for me to not only be friends with some of the greatest blues people who’ve ever lived, but to learn how they played, how they sang, how they lived their lives, ran their marriages and talked to their kids,” she told Performing Songwriter.
Her long career is an inspiration to young women making their way in what is an undeniably demanding business. She personifies grace and grit, humility and heart. We couldn’t be happier to welcome her back to Telluride.
