Q&A with Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt performing at Jazz Fest in Indianapolis (Credit: Mpozi Mshale Tolbert)

Bonnie Raitt doesn’t have too many reasons to sing the blues anymore — she’s a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, she’s won nine Grammys, and she’s one of the few musicians of the classic rock era still making new music. But somehow, her soulful voice and slide guitar still sound as bluesy as they did four decades ago.

Raitt’s BonTaj Roulet, which stops Aug. 25 at The Lawn at White River State Park, will see her collaborating with longtime friend and blues brother Taj Mahal as well as banging out old hits. Proceeds from the tour will also go to a charity — one that fans can vote for online. Advance ticket sales, Raitt said, have already generated more than $100,000.

Metromix called Raitt to talk touring, Taj and how she lets the good times roll.

How did this tour finally come about?
I finished two years of touring for my album “Souls Alike” and then spent last summer doing benefits for a political candidate (John Edwards), helping get out the vote. This year I wasn’t in the studio, so it was the perfect time, so I invited Taj. And I wanted to call it the BonTaj Roulet, it’s a play on “Laissez les bon temps roulet” — let the good times roll.

How does your style gel with Taj’s?
Early on, he was one of my heroes — he took the blues and did something fresh and new. He and Ry Cooder and Little Feat were models for me of how to take roots music and move it somewhere else. What we have together is a love of R&B and blues, but also great ballads, great ethnic music — an appreciation of roots music of all kinds.

Your biggest successes came really late in your career. Did you ever get impatient?
You know, many people don’t get to make a second record, let alone nine of them. It was frustrating not to get airplay with Linda Rondstadt or Emmylou Harris in the ’70s, but you had to be positioned with a high-powered manager or be really beautiful or want to be a star. I got a lot of reviews that kept folks coming out to see us. If it wasn’t for rock critics reviewing my shows and the fans telling their friends, I couldn’t have made a living.

You’ve got two great instruments in your voice and the guitar. Do you approach each differently?
I never even think about it.  When a song knocks me out and I try it in my style, my voice and my guitar act like the same organism. I just do it. It’s intuitive.

What makes you feel the luckiest?
I’ve been so blessed to have the fans stay loyal. It makes me want to play the best show I can every time. I learned that from my dad — he was singing for people until he died at 88. There’s a connection between happiness and health. Even if you’ve got the coolest job, if you’re stressed, then you’ll look back at the end of your life and think, “When did I take time to enjoy this?”

Will you play music until you’re 88 as well?
I hope so. If something happens to my hands, I’ll have to learn how to play with my feet.