More Muscle from the Shoals : Bettye Lavette : Scene of the Crime

Scene of the Crime was my introduction to Bettye Lavette.   I was pointed to it by the fact that the Drive by Truckers backed her in the recording and it was recorded in Muscle Shoals.  At that point I knew nothing about Ms Lavette but the album got great reviews so I was keen to hear it.

Bettye considers herself less of a singer than a song interpreter and the song selection on the album certainly support that.  There were some interesting selections but just hearing her reading of Elton John's Talking Old Soldiers lets you know that you are listening to a pretty special talent.  Other highlights include I Still Want to be Your Baby and Somebody Pick Up The Pieces.

Unusually she added her own lyrics to Before the Money Came or as she rechristened it "The Battle of Bettye Lavette" and that effectively told her story.   She expanded on that again later in her no holds barred autobiography A Woman Like Me.  It tells a story of lost and thrown away chances and all her battles with "those motherfuckers" that seemed to sabotage her career when she was not doing so herself.
As with any release by the Drive By Truckers the album came with an excellent essay by their guitarist Patterson Hood.  In the essay he outlined how he met her 43 years earlier.  That was when Bettye visited The Shoals and recorded a then still unreleased album with The Swampers (including Patterson's father David on Bass).  

Since picking up this album I have collected a few other of her albums on both vinyl and CD.   Only one of them really misses the mark.  The rest are great and it is easy to see why she is Barack Obama's favourite singer.