1. Bluebird ..... 3:25
(Stephen Stills) Ten-East Music/Springaloo-Cotil lion Music, Inc. -BMI
2. Mighty Tight Woman ..... 4:19
(SippieWallace-Arr. by John Beach) Olwen Music -BMI
3. Thank You ..... 2:48
(Bonnie Raitt) Kokomo Music-ASCAP
4. Finest Lovin' Man ..... 4:41
(Bonnie Raitt) Kokomo Music-ASCAP
5. Any Day Woman ..... 2:19
(Paul Seilbel) MCA Inc. -ASCAP
6. Big Road ..... 3.31
Tommy Johnson-Arr. by Bonnie Raitt) Kokomo Music-ASCAP
7. Walking Blues ..... 2:35
(Robert Johnson-Arr. by Bonnie Raitt) Kokomo Music-ASCAP
8. Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead ..... 2:50
(Ivy Hunter-Clarence Paul-Williarn Stevenson) Jobete Music Co., Inc. - BMI
9. Since I Fell For You ..... 3:03
((Bud Johnson) WB Music Corp-ASCAP
10. I Ain't Blue ..... 3:35
((John Koerner) Nina Music-BMI
11. Women Be Wise ..... 4:13
(Sippie Wallace-Addi. Lyrics by John Beach) Olwen Music- BMI

PRODUCED BY WILLIE MURPHY
Engineers: Dave and Sylvia Ray
Remix engineer: Kendall Pacios
Recorded at Sweet Jane, Ltd. Studios,
Minneapolis, August, 1971
Dedicated to Barnaby Ray

Mail and Business: Jeffrey Harsh
The Going Raitt
PO. Box 626
Los Angeles, CA 90078


Liner notes by Bonnie Raitt:

This music was made at an empty summer camp on Enchanted Island, about 30 miles west of Minneapolis on Lake Minnetonka. In between ping pong and fishing, we recorded in a wood-frame garage with Dave and Sylvia working the equipment from a loft above us. We recorded live on four tracks because we wanted a more spontaneous and natural feeling in the music - a feeling often sacrificed when the musicians know they can overdub their part on a separate track until it's perfect. It also reflects the difference between music made among friends living together in the country and the kind squeezed out trying to beat city traffic and studio clocks.

As to who we are: there's Willie and the Bumblebees, who keep themselves and their reputation alive playing every weekend in a Minneapolis bar. Freebo is from Philadelphia and played with Edison Electric before traveling with me. I'm from Cambridge, as is Peter Bell, a fine singer and songwriter as well as guitarist (nice hambones too).

The two special additions were Junior Wells and A. C. Reed, who drove up from Chicago to see if I really was going to do this after all, and maybe slip in a little fishing on the side. Junior's versatility and class never cease to amaze me. A.C., who sings even better than his brother, Jimmy, plays with Junior and Buddy Guy and has gone nameless on so many Chicago sessions it's about time he stepped out for the credit he's due.

The actual recording was handled by Dave and Sylvia Ray-the same Dave Ray of the Koerner Ray and Glover records I grew up on. They recently started their own studio where people like the Bumblebees, John Koerner, Peter Bell and Dave will also be recording with this kind of live approach in mind.

My special thanks go to Joyce and my brother, Steve, who somehow held this conglomeration together and always made us smile.

Bonnie Raitt


Bonnie talks about this album:
"I can appreciate, and it's too bad, that the audience understands the music of Fred McDowell better through me than through the real thing. If I were better they'd like me less. My taste is funkier than I can bring off. I know it seems like a hype for me to sing the blues. But they speak to me. The blues is pain. Maybe because the problems of the middle class aren't real, like how to buy food or pay the rent, we suffer real pain from divine decadence."
Newsweek november 6, 1972. "Bonnie and Blue" by Hubert Saal

"I can't believe how young I sound, and I thought I was so though. I'll never forget Junior and A.C.'s faces when they pulled up to the garage we called our studio, out in the middle of nowhere. Talk about 'going back to the country!"
1990 - The Bonnie Raitt Collection - liner notes



Other album notes:

Highlighting an evocative mix of blues, pop and R&B stylings, Bonnie Raitt's self- titled 1971 LP announced the arrival of a distinctive new voice in contemporary music. Bonnie Raitt features two outstanding originals from the singer-song- writer and guitarist- `Thank You' and 'Finest Lovin' Man' -along with contributions from Stephen Stills, Paul Seibel and John Koerner. Songs from the pen of blues maven Sippie Wallace, one of Raitt's major influences, round out this stunning debut offering.
The daughter of Broadway singer John Raitt (star of The Pajama Game and Carousel), Bonnie Raitt was born and raised in Los Angeles, where she began playing guitar at age 12. Her affinity for the blues earned her a local following in the clubs and coffee houses around Radcliffe, where she attended college in the late '60s. Raitt's ability to both interpret and update classic American music from a wide range of sources brought her to the attention of blues aficionado Dick Waterman. As her manager, Waterman booked her as an opener for such legendary performers as Howlin' Wolf, Mississippi Fred McDowell and the aforementioned Sippie Wallace. It was an invaluable apprenticeship for the fledgling artist.
Raitt's singular skill as a singer and guitarist (she was one of the few woman on the blues circuit who could play slide guitar) earned her a fervent following in Boston, Philadelphia and other East Coast stops. In 1970, Raitt signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Early the following year she began work on her first album with producer Willie Murphy and a top-notch lineup of musical friends.
Featured on acoustic and slide guitar and piano, Bonnie Raitt turns in a virtuoso performance on this extraordinary LP. The album's 11 cuts also spotlight a guest lineup that includes the great blues harp player Junior Wells, fretless bass master Freebo, tenor sax man A.C. Reed and a Minneapolis bar band called The Bumblebees. The album was recorded at an empty summer camp on the shores of Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota, and the unique feeling of musical camaraderie is