Having seen a couple shows at the Iron horse, I was excited to see a genuine soul singer in person at such an intimate venue. We got in just in time to get a good seat upstairs as her band began to play and ramp up for the show. After a couple great blues tunes she came up from the dressing room, sparkling in a black and rhinestone outfit that hung just right on her out-of-this-world body.
Her energy was electric from the beginning. She kicked and shimmied around the stage, singing strongly and pulsing her body, using both voice and physicality as one single instrument. Her voice itself is so powerful she doesn't need a microphone and at one point she proved it, sending spine tingling vocalizations out into the hall with no microphone and no difficulty at all. Whether she was performing an up-tempo tune or a grinding, soulful lament, she was able to turn the four feet of Iron horse stage into a stadium.
It felt like a special show, especially after she shared with us that the last time she was in town a year ago, we sent her on her way into, as she phrased it, the best year of her entire life. That is certainly saying something considering her forty-seven year career that began when she was just sixteen years old. This is one of the things I love about Northampton- so many artists feel at home here.
The best part of the night came after her exit to a standing ovation, when she returned for an encore and sang a song that she had compiled the lyrics for with music from her musical director. She had already detailed earlier how in just the last six years she had been hoping for gigs that would pay even fifty dollars, and how grateful she is to have been "brought out of the crypt," as she quipped. This song, about staying strong with the other girls, singing for forty years no matter who told her she wouldn't fit in, and now, finally,after all that time, getting to watch as the money comes rolling in was definitely her best. I know I felt no shame in applauding that. She is a bad-ass lady, and a soul icon, and I'm glad she is finally getting her due.
Wow, Bettye Lavette.
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