beta luv betty and/or bettye

Betty Lavette - "Let Me Down Easy"

This is one of the first soul songs I ever got into, as my old drinking buddy Jones turned me onto the Best of Calla Records and Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures one Lone Star'd night. That twinkle of vibraphone, that stinging twang, that sweet voice growing more desperate and frayed with each verse, that pop sheen that just hints at the fissures of heartache beneath, it all came together here, and led me into much deeper, darker fields of human soul.
So it was a thrill to have Bettye return to the scene, even if she has to go through Joe Henry's embalming machine to get to the present. Musing on her down yonder in Nashville...