Bonnie Raitt/Mavis Staples

Comments (0) By Rick Mason Wednesday, Aug 22 2012

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Minnesota State Fair Grandstand

1265 Snelling Ave. N.
St. Paul, MN 55108

Category: Attractions/Amusement Parks

Region: Como

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Bonnie Raitt recorded her first album at Dave Ray's country studio with members of Willie and the Bees, one of many Minnesota ties that make her as natural a fit for the State Fair as walleye on a stick. And particularly if she's bringing along gospel and soul treasure Mavis Staples, who was weaned on righteous activist standards during the Civil Rights Movement with her family band, the Staple Singers. Her latest, You Are Not Alone, covers more diverse material from the likes of Randy Newman, John Fogerty, and Jeff Tweedy, who also produced. As for Raitt, she's sporting her first album in seven years: Slipstream (on her own Redwing label), an inspired collection of blues, reggae, pop, R&B, and rock nuggets from the pens of Bob Dylan, Gerry Rafferty, Loudon Wainwright, and NRBQ's Al Anderson. Playing with a blazing assurance remarkable even for herself, Raitt cranks up tart and sassy revelations on her trademark slide guitar, even dallying with Bill Frisell on a few cuts, while her vocals almost enter a new expressive plane. Her soulful voice manages to pack hope, resignation, resilience, sadness, and a dozen other emotions into a succession of remarkably turned phrases, most notably on Wainwright and Joseph Lee Henry's "You Can't Fail Me Now." $34.50-$44.50. 7:30 p.m. 1265 Snelling Ave. N., St. Paul; 800.514.3849.
Thu., Aug. 23, 7:30 p.m., 2012