Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502240050
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LARRY McSHANE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Except - and she's pretty forceful about this - Raitt says she's no mainstream '90s performer.
``I don't consider my personal politics as widely accepted,'' says Raitt, whose activism dates back two decades to the anti-nuclear rallies of the 1970s. ``My music isn't as widely accepted as Janet Jackson or Mariah Carey.
``I don't think great masses of people are familiar with everything about me. ... In the '70s, the counterculture was the mainstream. Now, we're back on the fringes.''
In the '70s, Raitt was a critical and cult favorite - a slide guitarist with a taste for the blues but little commercial success. By the '90s, she was a chart-topping, award-winning singer-guitarist whose songs popped up on the adult-contemporary charts.
``I hear they play me in supermarkets,'' Raitt says with a laugh. ``I suppose that might make me mainstream. But I haven't changed.''
True. And so, on her ``Longing in Their Hearts'' concert special airing on the A&E Network at 8 p.m. Saturday, Raitt brings out an old friend for a bluesy duet on ``I'm In the Mood'' - John Lee Hooker.
It's one of the highlights of the hour-long show, culled from two concerts last November at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara, Calif.
In a heartfelt introduction, Raitt hails ``one of my greatest heroes of the blues'' before bringing Hooker onstage. Sitting on two chairs, she and Hooker trade vocals and guitar licks. The results are anything but unplugged.
Raitt's other special guest for the show was her dad, John, a Broadway star who joins her for a medley of tunes that includes ``Oklahoma'' and ``Falling in Love Is Wonderful.''
``It was great fun to have them both there,'' says Raitt, whose versatility is displayed throughout the show. She effortlessly moves from slide guitar to acoustic guitar to keyboards while showcasing tunes from her ``Longing in Their Hearts'' album.
The best-selling album has guaranteed Raitt another television gig: potential winner at the March 1 Grammys, where she is up for another five awards, including record of the year and album of the year.
Raitt, whose videos were a key element to her breakthrough, says she's still not quite comfortable watching herself on film.
``It's excruciating at first to watch footage of yourself,'' she says. ``But it's part of the job, so you suck it up and pick the best angles, the best performance. I just do what I do.''
The 60-minute concert show, with Raitt's six-piece band, is only a sampler of her acclaimed live show.
Some of the concert footage also will be recut and interspersed with a Raitt interview conducted by Whoopi Goldberg. That program, airing March 16 as an ABC afterschool special, allows Raitt to go beyond the music and reveal more of herself.
It's an interesting story. The California-born Raitt grew up on a mixture of Joan Baez and Broadway tunes and went into ``the family business'' - music. After early success, her career and personal life bottomed out during the 1980s.
In 1983, her longtime record label, Warner Bros., dropped Raitt after refusing to release an album she had spent three years creating. A 1987 alliance with Prince fell through. Raitt joined Alcoholics Anonymous, and recorded her first ``sober'' album - the 1989 smash ``Nick of Time.''
``We talked about where I was from,'' Raitt says of her interview with Goldberg. ``We talked about musical influences - my connection with Broadway musicals, and how I wound up singing Howlin' Wolf.''
Raitt says that while she's happily married and continuing her activist work, she still plans to keep singing the blues.
``Definitely,'' she says. ``It's what I grew up loving.''
by CNB