Things Have Changed Bettye LaVette

• 1 Things Have Changed 06:56
• 2 It Ain’t Me Babe 05:30
• 3 Political World 04:03
• 4 Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight 05:07
• 5 Seeing The Real You At Last 05:07
• 6 Mama, You Been On My Mind 03:46
• 7 Ain’t Talkin’ 05:40
• 8 The Times They Are A-Changin' 05:08
• 9 What Was It You Wanted 04:42
• 10 Emotionally Yours 05:24
• 11 Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others) 03:36
• 12 Going, Going, Gone 04:05
• Total Runtime 59:04

Info for Things Have Changed

Legendary Soul singer Bettye LaVette takes on the songs of Bob Dylan with her new album Things Have Changed.

Things Have Changed is the iconic singer’s tenth album and first album on a major label in nearly thirty years, and she tackles Dylan’s songs with the grit and experience that makes her one of the greatest living soul singers. Things Have Changed spans more than five decades of Dylan songs, from 1964’s immortal ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’ up to ‘Ain’t Talkin’,’ the epic final track on his 2006 album Modern Times.

“Other people write songs, but he writes vignettes, more prose than poetry,” Bettye LaVette says of Bob Dylan. I didn’t find his words to be pretty so much as they are extremely practical or extremely logical. He can work things like ‘go jump off a ledge’ into a song.”

Things Have Changed sees Dylan’s songs seriously transformed: “I had never really listened to ‘It Ain’t Me Babe,’” she says, “But I had to make it more dismissive—not fast and hard, but like a Jimmy Reed tune. And ‘The Times They Are A-Changin,’ I had to flip that all the way around, so we worked up the groove on a beat box. That just made it extremely surprising.”

To pull off these transformations, LaVette needed a producer who was up to the challenge, and, through Executive Producer Carol Friedman, she found the perfect collaborator in Steve Jordan, former drummer in David Letterman’s house band, who has worked with everyone from Chuck Berry to John Mayer. “Steve was absolutely brilliant,” she says. “He remembers everything he has ever heard in his entire life, and he was able to interpret for the musicians everything I said to him.”

The album’s title track is also its first single. It initially premiered on Rolling Stone Country, who said of the track: “It’s a foreboding song…and LaVette rips into it with bluesy grit, as though she’s unashamed of her own confessions.”

Legendary Soul singer Bettye LaVette takes on the songs of Bob Dylan with her new album Things Have Changed, released by Verve Records on 30 March.

Things Have Changed is the iconic singer’s tenth album and first album on a major label in nearly thirty years, and she tackles Dylan’s songs with the grit and experience that makes her one of the greatest living soul singers. Things Have Changed spans more than five decades of Dylan songs, from 1964’s immortal ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’ up to ‘Ain’t Talkin’,’ the epic final track on his 2006 album Modern Times.

“Other people write songs, but he writes vignettes, more prose than poetry,” Bettye LaVette says of Bob Dylan. I didn’t find his words to be pretty so much as they are extremely practical or extremely logical. He can work things like ‘go jump off a ledge’ into a song.”

Things Have Changed sees Dylan’s songs seriously transformed: “I had never really listened to ‘It Ain’t Me Babe,’” she says, “But I had to make it more dismissive—not fast and hard, but like a Jimmy Reed tune. And ‘The Times They Are A-Changin,’ I had to flip that all the way around, so we worked up the groove on a beat box. That just made it extremely surprising.”

To pull off these transformations, LaVette needed a producer who was up to the challenge, and, through Executive Producer Carol Friedman, she found the perfect collaborator in Steve Jordan, former drummer in David Letterman’s house band, who has worked with everyone from Chuck Berry to John Mayer. “Steve was absolutely brilliant,” she says. “He remembers everything he has ever heard in his entire life, and he was able to interpret for the musicians everything I said to him.”

The album’s title track is also its first single. It initially premiered on Rolling Stone Country, who said of the track: “It’s a foreboding song…and LaVette rips into it with bluesy grit, as though she’s unashamed of her own confessions.”

Jordan brought in an A Team of musicians, including Dylan’s long-time guitarist Larry Campbell, bass virtuoso Pino Palladino, and keyboardist Leon Pendarvis. The group was in such sync that the whole album was cut in just three days. Later, Keith Richards added guitar and is featured on “Political World” and New Orleans ace Trombone Shorty joined for “What Was It You Wanted.”

Grammy nominated singer Bettye LaVette has been in show business for nearly six decades. Her first single ‘My Man – He’s A Lovin’ Man’ was released on Atlantic Records in 1962, when she was only 16 years old. She continued recording until her resurgence came in the early 00s with a series of albums of interpretations, and in

2008 she wowed the audience at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony with a heart-wrenching rendition of The Who’s ‘Love Reign O’er Me.’ Her voice is like no other, and taking on the tricky canon of one of the most substantial songwriters alive is no small feat – but if anyone can match the heart of Bob Dylan, it’s Bettye LaVette.

Bettye LaVette, vocals

Betty Jo Haskins
was born January 29,1946, in Muskegon, Michigan. The family moved to Detroit when she was six years old. Her parents sold corn liquor and her living room was oft-times visited by The Soul Stirrers, The Blind Boys of Mississippi, and many other traveling gospel groups of the day. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Bettye did not get her start in the church, but in that very same living room, where there was a jukebox, filled with the blues, country & western, and R&B records of the time. The "5" Royales, Dinah Washington, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Red Foley, ...these were her roots.

By 16, Betty Jo had become enamored with showbiz. She decided to change her name to something more dramatic. She knew a local groupie by the name of Sherma Lavett, liked the sound of the name, and thus, Betty LaVette was born. Singer Timmy Shaw brought her to Johnnie Mae Matthews, notorious Motor City record producer. Bettye's first single was "My Man - He’s a Loving Man.", in the fall of 1962. The record was quickly picked up by Atlantic for national distribution. The record charted #7 R&B and put her on her first national tour, with Ben E. King, Clyde McPhatter, and another newcomer, Otis Redding. After a brief spell at Detroit's Lupine label, Bettye went back to New York and became the featured singer in the Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford Review, where their Small's Paradise shows became the talk of the town. Her association with Don and Dee Dee spawned her next big record, for the Calla label. "Let Me Down Easy", written by Dee Dee Ford, was an atmospheric masterpiece. Bettye's pleading voice, set against the moody string arrangement by Dale Warren produced a record that is on many "greatest soul songs of all time" lists. It went # 20 R&B in 1965 and led to an appearance on the television show, Shindig. It also put her on a tour with The James Brown Review. More, please visit the homepage: www.bettyelavette.com

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