Bettye LaVette

An R&B diva with a sharp, distinctive vocal style that balances passion, ferocity, and confidence, Bettye LaVette spent years as a cult figure only to find a new, appreciative audience in the 2000s. While she rarely writes her material, she's a gifted interpreter, filling songs with her own personality. Her troubles with record labels would result in much of her strongest work barely being heard or sitting unreleased for decades. The 2003 live album A Woman Like Me earned her a hearing from American soul music enthusiasts, and 2005's I've Got My Own Hell to Raise was a studio set that presented her in utterly uncompromised fashion. A series of critically celebrated albums followed, most thematic in nature, including 2010's Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook, 2018's Things Have Changed (devoted to songs written by Bob Dylan), and 2023's LaVette! (featuring 11 songs from the pen of Randall Bramblett).