Bettye LaVette

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With one of her first singles turning into a national hit, 1962’s “Let Me Down Easy”, Detroit-raised LaVette would seem a natural soul star, but she was never able to cut an album deal. In 1972 her album A Child of the Seventies was shelved by Atlantic Records, then thought lost forever in a fire. She eked out a living on the European festival circuit, occasionally surfacing such as with the disco single “Doin’ the Best that I Can”, but remained obscure until French soul collector Gilles Petard tracked down the lost masters and persuaded Atlantic to let him release them on his vanity label as Souvenirs. A live album and 2005’s cover album I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise followed.

With the release of The Scene of the Crime, Bettye Lavette inches closer to the mainstream, or at least a much bigger cult following. Backed by The Drive-By Truckers and released on -Anti, The Scene of the Crime is recorded at the legendary FAME studios in Muscles Shoals, Alabama. The same place as her lost album. The connection doesn’t end there - Patterson Hood of the Drive-by Truckers is the son of David Hood, who played on the 1972 album.

In 2009, she appeared at President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Celebration, singing “A Change Is Gonna Come” with Jon Bon Jovi. It was televised globally.

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• I've Got My Own Hell To Raise
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• The Scene of the Crime
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• Let Me Down Easy In Concert
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• A Woman Like Me
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1		Most of the Time			346
2		Let Me Down Easy			119
3		Down to Zero			26
4		Wish You Were Here			24
4		Joy			24
6		Maybe I'm Amazed			23
7		Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad			21
7		I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got			21
9		Little Sparrow			20
9		Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood			20
9		Choices			20
12		Isn't It a Pity			18
13		He Made a Woman Out of Me			17
14		It Don't Come Easy			16
15		Sleep to Dream			15

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