Bonnie Raitt & Friends – VH1 Decades Rock Live – (Capitol)

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Given the number of people she’s touched and the acres of ground she’s covered over her 30-plus years of slinging songs and six-string soliloquies, it’s fitting that Bonnie Raitt would be the first person honored on VH-1′s Decades series.

That show — one part tribute, one part concert throwdown — is captured in full flight on this CD/DVD package, which features a slew of Raitt’s comrades joining her on a well-chosen selection of hits, obscurities, and classic covers. Raitt doesn’t call upon any outside help for her best-known material, using her usual backing band to chisel out sturdy takes on “Something to Talk About” and “I Will Not Be Broken,” presented here with an even more plangent tone than the studio version. She does, however, bring in some pretty big guns for the rest of the set, notably bluesman Keb’ Mo’, Ben Harper — a kindred spirit who meshes marvelously with Raitt on songs like the longing “Two Lights in the Nighttime” and the Dylan-penned “Well Well Well” — and Norah Jones, who calls on her Little Willies persona for a lovely “Tennessee Waltz.”

There’s some overlap between the 12-track audio disc and the 17-track DVD — which also includes a good bit of behind-the-scenes footage not seen on the television broadcast — but there’s enough unique material on each to keep both in heavy rotation.

Bonnie, along with Bruce Springsteen & Jackson Browne, is one of the three stalwarts of The Main Point. She was on the bill there 7 different times (not counting the times she just ‘showed up & played’) & had great respect for what Mrs. Campbell was trying to accomplish there in Bryn Mawr. The Main Point was one of the very first places that Bonnie performed on stage, so you could say that she got her start at The Main Point! Bonnie often helped the club survive by doing benefit shows to keep it’s doors open – A GREAT friend of The Main Point!

RAITT – Blender Blues

Here’s a tune that Bonnie used to play all the time while at the Main Point – Don’t think she ever released it on any of her records… So it’s here for you to enjoy!

Click to listen