Bettye LaVette Forms New Band

Bettye LaVette Band

Our favorite Essex County Legend, Bettye LaVette, 79, has formed a new band. “Pretty late in the day to be forming new bands,” she admits, “but they are wonderful and I am very very pleased.” LaVette is psyched and “excited” about the new lineup which features drummer Rich Pagano as Music Director, guitarist Ann Klein, bassist John Conte and keyboardist Etienne Stadwijk. “I take especially great pleasure in welcoming Ann. It is the first time that I EVER had a female musician in the band. And she is just great. We rehearsed at Euphoria Studios in New York City and it went extremely well. I’m looking forward to our first gig in Colorado.”

Back home again, she told us that other than the massive hailstorm that punctuated the proceedings, the gig went well. “This band really knows their stuff,” she enthused. “No ridiculously long rehearsals anymore. They just know where to go. We did songs from my entire career, from 1964 on.”

When asked about some of her masterpiece albums like 2010’s Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook, her 2018 Things Have Changed and her 2023 Lavette!, she admits the set will change with upcoming gigs. She does make sure to do her show-stopper, George Harrison’s “Isn’t It A Pity.” When LaVette sings this song, time itself stands still, and audience members forget to breathe in anticipation of her every utterance. She stretches those vowels out with such drama that the song itself becomes a mantra for all the ills of the world. It’s a fair assumption to say that nobody ever sang this song like this.


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Mike Greenblatt

MIKE GREENBLATT has been writing for Goldmine magazine and New Jersey's Aquarian Weekly for more than 35 years. His writing subjects fill the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He's interviewed Joe Cocker, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Carlos Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. He was 18 when he attended Woodstock in 1969.

In addition to writing about music, Greenblatt has worked on publicity campaigns for The Animals, Pat Benatar, Johnny Winter, Tommy James and Richard Branson, among others. He is currently the editor of The Jersey Sound.

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