With ‘Dig In Deep’, her twentieth album, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bonnie
Raitt comes out swinging. The follow-up to 2012’s triumphant ‘Slipstream’ — the
Grammy-winning, Top Ten-charting first release on her own Redwing Records
label — the new record illustrates the delicate balance of consistency and risk taking that has
defined Raitt’s remarkable career for more than forty-five years.
“The response to ‘Slipstream’ was such a refreshing and unexpected boost,” she
says. “So going into this album, I had renewed energy.”
For ‘Dig In Deep’, Raitt kept things focused and close to home. Feeling that her
recent, two-year-long tour was one of her best ever, she was eager to get her
touring band back in the studio. She again produced the album herself (other
than one track taken from her 2010 sessions with Joe Henry), and brought Ryan
Freeland back as the project’s engineer. The resulting twelve songs draw on her
characteristic, incomparable blend of blues, rock, R&B, and pop, from the funk
of the opening “Unintended Consequence of Love” to the powerful, deeply
personal ballad “The Ones We Couldn’t Be.”
Notably, Raitt has writing credits on five of the album’s songs, the most original compositions
she has contributed to a record since 1998’s ‘Fundamental’. “I was really inspired
to come upwith some songs that went with grooves that I
missed playing in my live show, and to dig deeper into some topics I hadn’t yet
mined,’ she said. “I don’t write easily and can get distracted, but remembering
how satisfying it was to come up with something new of my own, and writing
with guys I love — like my longtime bandmates George Marinelli and Jon Cleary
— I found that once the wheels started turning, the music came pouring out.”
In addition to the originals, Raitt recorded material by some of her favorite
working songwriters, and a couple of knock-out covers—a blazing version of Los
Lobos’ “Shakin’ Shakin’ Shakes” and her sexy, slow-burn take on the INXS hit
“Need You Tonight.” ‘Dig In Deep’ features a healthy dose of the signature slide
work from the woman Rolling Stone named one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists
of All Time,” but also sees Raitt at the piano for two emotional, distinctive
numbers.
“I’m feeling pretty charged, and the band and I are at the top of our game,”
says Bonnie Raitt. “This period of my life is more exciting and vital than I was
expecting, and for that I’m really grateful. At this point, I have a lot less to
prove and hey, if you’re not going to ‘Dig In Deep’ now, what’s the point?”
“I can’t wait to get back out on the road and play these songs,” she continues.
“The band has never sounded better and all of us together, with Ryan at the
board, is the reason this record kicks as hard as it does. I think all these years together
pay off, and the best part is that we know how lucky we are to still get to make our livings doing
something we love this much.”