Bettye LaVette Releases "Change Is Gonna Come Sessions" EP Exclusively On iTunes

Tuesday June 16, 2009

BETTYE LaVETTE is releasing her new EP, titled Change is Gonna Come Sessions, exclusively available on iTunes tomorrow June 16. The following week on June 24, Bettye will be performing the title track from that new EP on the “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.” The last time Bettye was seen performing the Sam Cooke classic was to an astonished worldwide television audience on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at President Obama’s “We Are One” inaugural celebration.

According to a review of the EP in the Detroit Free Press: “LaVette’s ‘Change is Gonna Come Sessions’ (**** out of four stars on Anti) features a new studio version of the song, plus smoky and subtle versions of jazz standards ‘God Bless the Child,’ ‘Lush Life and ‘Round Midnight.’ ‘God Bless the Child’ has particular significance to LaVette, who used to sing the tune as part of the touring company of ‘Bubbling Brown Sugar,’ where she appeared alongside legendary Cab Calloway.”

Martin Bandyke continues in his review: “On the night he was elected president, Obama referred to Cooke’s civil rights anthem when he said, ‘It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, change has come to America.’ It’s been a long time coming as well for LaVette…What an absolute thrill to see her finally gain the long-overdue recognition she so richly deserves.”

Meanwhile, Bettye has been on the road for most of this year and will continue through the fall. During her time off in between dates, Bettye will begin recording a new CD to be released later this year. Of her performance last week in Minneapolis, Jon Bream of the Star Tribune proclaimed: “She remains the most deeply emotional and physically emotive R&B singer on the planet. When she sings, she gets in touch with the deep recesses of her psyche and soul. Imagine Otis Redding’s pleading style of Southern R&B rendered with Tina Turner’s leathery lungs, delivered with more emotion than Janis Joplin could summon.” You can find her tour dates at www.bettyelavette.com

You can find her EP on ITunes HERE!