Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook

Bettye LaVette brings the British Invasion home to its American R&B roots on Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook. Produced by Bettye, Rob Mathes and Michael Stevens, the album is a 13 song journey through compositions by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd among others, concluding right where the very idea for Interpretations started: Bettye s visceral rendition of The Who s Love Reign O er Me from the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors, which appears here as a bonus track. That performance which first brought Bettye together with Stevens (the event s producer) and Mathes (its musical director) showcased for a national television audience what her devoted fanbase already knew: Bettye LaVette is without parallel as an interpreter of popular song. The success of this performance lead to another astonishing moment on the national stage, her duet of Sam Cooke s Change Is Gonna Come with Jon Bon Jovi at the Obama Inaugural Concert.