Things Have Changed (Verve)

Bettye LaVette

Released March 30, 2018

JAZZ.FM91 20 Best Jazz Albums of the 2010s

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About:

For her tenth album and first album on a major label in nearly thirty years, legendary soul singer Bettye LaVette takes on the songs of Bob Dylan with the grit and experience that makes her one of the greatest living soul singers. Things Have Changed is a masterpiece of interpretation of one of the greatest songwriters alive, by one of the greatest soul singers alive. Keith Richards and Trombone Shorty guest on the Steve Jordan-produced album, which is set for release on Verve Records on March 30.

The title track was released today and premiered yesterday by Rolling Stone Country, who says of the track, “It’s a foreboding song…and LaVette rips into it with bluesy grit, as though she’s unashamed of her own confessions.”

This spring, Bettye will tour the new album across North America, including dates in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Boston and Washington, DC. She will also perform on NPR’s Mountain Stage on February 25, full dates below.

Things Have Changed spans more than five decades of Dylan songs, from 1964’s immortal “The Times They Are A-Changin’” up to “Ain’t Talkin’,” the epic final track on his 2006 album Modern Times.

“Other people write songs, but he writes vignettes, more prose than poetry. I didn’t find his words to be pretty so much as they are extremely practical or extremely logical. He can work things like ‘go jump off a ledge’ into a song.”

Things Have Changed sees Dylan’s songs seriously transformed: “I had never really listened to ‘It Ain’t Me Babe,’” she says, “But I had to make it more dismissive—not fast and hard, but like a Jimmy Reed tune. And ‘The Times They Are A-Changin,’ I had to flip that all the way around, so we worked up the groove on a beat box. That just made it extremely surprising.”

To pull off these transformations, LaVette needed a producer who was up to the challenge, and, through Executive Producer Carol Friedman, she found the perfect collaborator in Steve Jordan, former drummer in David Letterman’s house band, who has worked with everyone from Chuck Berry to John Mayer. “Steve was absolutely brilliant,” she says. “He remembers everything he has ever heard in his entire life, and he was able to interpret for the musicians everything I said to him.”

Jordan brought in an A Team of musicians, including Dylan’s long-time guitarist Larry Campbell, bass virtuoso Pino Palladino, and keyboardist Leon Pendarvis. The group was in such sync that the whole album was cut in just three days. Later, Keith Richards added guitar and is featured on “Political World” and New Orleans ace Trombone Shorty joined for “What Was It You Wanted.”

Grammy nominated singer Bettye LaVette has been in show business for nearly six decades. Her first single “My Man – He’s A Lovin’ Man” was released on Atlantic Records in 1962, when she was only 16 years old. She continued recording until her resurgence came in the early aughts with a series of albums of interpretations, and in 2008 she wowed the audience at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony with a heart-wrenching rendition of The Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me.” Her voice is like no other, and taking on the tricky canon of one of the most substantial songwriters alive is no small feat – but if anyone can match the heart of Bob Dylan, it’s Bettye LaVette.

Track Listing:

1. Things Have Changed 6:57

2. It Ainʼt Me Babe 5:30

3. Political World 4:03

4. Donʼt Fall Apart On Me Tonight 5:07

5. Seeing The Real You At Last 5:07

6. Mama, You Been On My Mind 3:46

7. Ainʼt Talkinʼ 5:40

8. The Times They Are A-Changinʼ 5:08

9. What Was It You Wanted 4:42

10. Emotionally Yours 5:24

11. Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others) 3:36

12. Going, Going, Gone 4:05

Personnel:

Bettye Lavette: vocals

The LaVettes (Bettye Lavette & Steve Jordan): backing vocals, handclaps (5, 9)

Steve Jordan: drums, percussion, acoustic guitar (8), electric guitar (11)

Larry Campbell: guitar, pedal steel guitar (6, 12), mandolin (10)

Leon Pendarvis: electric piano, piano, organ (3, 10), keyboard bass (7)

Pino Palladino: bass

Keith Richards: featured guitars (2, 3), guitar solo (3)

Trombone Shorty: trombone (9)

Gil Goldstein: organ (5, 7), electric harpsichord (7), accordion (7), harmonium (6, 10)

Ivan Neville: clavinet (9)

The Firey String Company (Nioka Workman, cello; Charisa Dowe-Rouse, violin; Rose Bartu, violin; Ina Paris, viola): strings (7)

Recorded at Brooklyn Recording, Brooklyn, NY and Germano Studios, New York, NY, by Dave O’Donnell
Assistant Engineers: Jaclyn Sanchez and Matthew Sim

Additional Recording at Germano Studios, New York, NY, by Kenta Yonesaka, and Neutral Sound Studio, New Orleans, LA, by Andrew Block

Mixed by Dave O’Donnell

Mastered by Greg Calbi

Creative Director: Josh Cheuse

Photography: Mark Seliger

Producer: Steve Jordan

Executive-Producer: Carol Friedman

Review:

Bettye LaVette waited until the 21st century to become an overnight sensation. First discovered by Motown in the golden era of that 1960s hit factory, LaVette showed her strength as an interpreter with Things Have Changed, bringing the Bob Dylan songbook into a new era. Her way with the groove is funky and modern, and her soulful vocal delivery drives home Dylan’s songs of social conscience. This collection is a winning combination with a lasting impact.

Danny Marks (JAZZ.FM91)