Bettye LaVette: This quote probably sums up Bettye's unmatchable skills best: Of her performance last week in Minneapolis, Jon Bream of the Star Tribune proclaimed: “She remains the most deeply emotional and physically emotive R&B singer on the planet. When she sings, she gets in touch with the deep recesses of her psyche and soul. Imagine Otis Redding’s pleading style of Southern R&B rendered with Tina Turner’s leathery lungs, delivered with more emotion than Janis Joplin could summon." The New York Times says "Classic soul singing doesn't get any better."

Bettye LaVette started 2009 with a bang with the honor of performing Sam Cooke’s revered anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come” at Barack Obama’s Inaugural Celebration, "WE ARE ONE" at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, January 18.

In December, 2008, LaVette proved to give the powerhouse performance of the evening at the Kennedy Center Honors when she sang her unparalleled version of “Love Reign O’er Me” as part of the Who tribute. The Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl recently described his first encounter with Bettye’s rendition of the song to Air America’s Richard Greene: “We showed up for rehearsal, and one of the performers was rehearsing the song for the Who segment. It was a woman named Bettye LaVette… She is gonna steal the show. She was so phenomenal, this performance of The Who song that she did. It will bring you to tears. The room was pin-drop silent when she did this song, and it was just unbelievable.”