Parallel Lives

JAMES TAYLOR ON BONNIE RAITT

By Anastasia Stanmeyer

Although they didn't meet until they were billed for the same performance in the early ’70s at Sanders Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt later found out that their lives held many similarities. 

“Bonnie slightly preceded me in coming on the scene, but we had very parallel paths,” says Taylor. “She was connected with the music scene in Cambridge and Boston.” 

They later found out that their parents had enrolled them in the same youth program. Taylor says he and Raitt both attended Friends World Service, a cultural exchange program. They missed each other by a year but had similar experiences of traveling through Europe by way of VW buses and adult chaperones. 

“We have very similar upbringings,” says Taylor. “Her dad, of course, was a famous Broadway performer, a fabulous singer. I had listened to his voice on recordings growing up because my folks had those records. My dad and mom were very academic. We didn't know each other growing up, but we were in the same sort of social context.” 

Raitt wasn’t the only one deeply influenced and informed by her exposure to musical theater. “I was, too,” says Taylor. “That was a big part of my musical background. My folks were fans of the musicals of the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, and I listened to all of it repeatedly. I think that, and what was available socially and culturally back then, was what I grew up with. We both came out of this folk music, what my friend Waddy Wachtel calls ‘the great folk scare of the mid-60s.’” 

They both came out of the East Coast folk music scene of the ’60s and early ’70s. You can track that population of baby boomers through the popular culture of the time, Taylor says. 

“When they became 18 to 25, it was an explosion of creativity,” he says. “We’re still reverberating from that period of time. Bonnie is a prime product of that cultural event. It happened at the same time as the civil rights movement, as the anti-war movement. We grew up with the threat of nuclear proliferation, the Cold War, the assassination of the two Kennedys and Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. It was just an extremely intense time, and the music that came out of it was something we hadn't seen.” 

They both were Warner Elektra artists, Taylor says. Their music paths crossed many other times. For instance, Taylor’s manager, Peter Asher, produced Raitt’s 1979 album, The Glow. The first song they sang together was probably “Barefootin’” by Robert Parker. And another early track was the Howard Tate song "Look at Granny Run Run,” which was written by Jerry Ragovoy and Mort Shuman. 

Taylor stays in close touch with Raitt. They have played together many times, including at Tanglewood in 2017 and touring together after that—which was a high point for him. The last time he saw Raitt was at the Kennedy Center Honors in December, when he performed for her. He points to Raitt's dedication to blues and her exceptional guitar skills. Not to mention how excited his band gets when they play with Raitt. 

“Usually when I play at Tanglewood, if I'm lucky enough to have a guest, then they play with my band,” says Taylor. “When it's Bonnie, they get really fired up. Everybody in the band loves her, loves her music, and loves to play with her—Steve Gadd, Jimmy Johnson, Michael Landau, Larry Goldings. Arnold McCuller was featured in Bonnie’s Nick of Time and has toured with her. When she joined us for that job in Tanglewood, that's when we started talking about touring together.” 

There are so many things that are so great about Raitt, Taylor adds. He points out that she was a founding member of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. “She's worked tirelessly to get the people who make that music, to get them recognition and remuneration for what they created and what was so often stolen from them.” 

He says that Raitt radiates positive energy when you’re around her. 

“It’s a surprise to hear this blues coming out of this person,” says Taylor. “Her mastery of that form on the guitar—not only that she’s competent and gotten it down, but she adds to it with her own sense, and she incorporates it in her music. In my mind, she’s a true master of the guitar. She’s known for that slide, that sort of scorching, really gutsy style of slide guitar. But her acoustic blues playing and her piano, too, she's a powerhouse, a real wellspring of talent. The thing about her, too, is that she's profane. She's lowdown. She just puts it right there all the time. She just surprises you with her enthusiasm, her intelligence, her raw talent, and how low-down and funky she is.” 

He has many favorite songs by her. One of the many things she does so well is cover other people’s tunes, and that’s not easy. 

“You're probably playing something because you love it, and you probably love it because the original version of it was so fabulous,” says Taylor. “So, it's challenging to take a song and and redo it and make it worth redoing, given how great the original is. But Bonnie is a person who can do that. She can take any tune and make it her own. And you’re always glad she did.” 

James Taylor will perform at Tanglewood on July 3 and 4, and Bonnie Raitt will be at Tanglewood on August 31 with special guest Jimmie Vaughan & The Tilt-A-Whirl Band. 

bso.org/tanglewood