.................................the blog nobody reads: More Music Notes from around the Web . . . .

BONNIE RAITT, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue . . . . . .

Bonnie early days . . . . .

Photo: Sam Jones

Bonnie Raitt:

It was unusual for a woman to play a bottleneck guitar and play styles of guitar that mostly men were doing… I came out of folk music and all those women were great accompanists. It’s about the song and about accompanying yourself and not about chops. It probably set me apart and helped me in a way. I don’t want to say it was a gimmick, but it was something that was unusual and made people pay attention.
Ry Cooder is still a god to me. Ry and Lowell George are the biggest influences on my playing. I love the Delta blues: Son House, Fred McDowell, Robert Johnson, Johnny Shines, John Hammond. But Ry wrote the book on making it sound like your voice, which is what I try to do. He and Stevie Ray Vaughan are the greatest guitar players I've ever heard.”

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