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The Deal: Old-school soul songstress delivers the goods, old and new, with fire and sass.
The Good: Bettye LaVette doesn't perform songs -- she's possessed by them. She gets so far inside the song you can see her clawing at the walls, rending great holes in the fabric to vent her emotions. Saturday night at Carrboro's Arts Center, LaVette kept a small but enthusiastic crowd enthralled with her dynamic interpretations of songs by artists as diverse as John Prine, Joan Armatrading, Dolly Parton, Sinead O'Connor and Joe Simon. LaVette doesn't cover songs, she repossesses them. With her at the wheel, these things sound nothing like the vehicles their previous owners drove. Her stripped down, 10-minute rendition of John Prine's "Souvenirs" is the show's highlight; LaVette dissects the song so you feel every nuance of the heartbreak in a version that would reduce Prine to tears. Her take on Joan Armatrading's "Down to Zero" is so strong that you can imagine Armatrading's people calling up LaVette and begging her not to sing it anymore because they'll never sell any more copies. She closes with an acapella version of Sinead O'Connor's "I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got" that leaves the audience stunned. They give her the longest standing ovation this little place has ever seen. Then in another fitting tribute, nobody leaves the building. As the house lights come up, the entire audience troops out into the lobby to wait for LaVette to come out and chat with them and sign CDs.
The Bad: She hasn't been around these parts since 1962, and she doesn't come around more often.
The Verdict: As anybody in attendance could attest, soul is not dead -- it's just been sleeping. Bettye LaVette is the wake up call.
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Calendar
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ATTILA, BORN OF OSIRIS w/ TRAITORS, EXTORTIONIST, NOT ENOUGH SPACE @ The Underground
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Live review, photos: Chickenfoot 4
