Bonnie Raitt and Dave Grohl Form Mutual Admiration Society

Bonnie Raitt arrives at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Dave Grohl was talking to Rolling Stone on the red carpet of the MusiCares Salute to Paul McCartney when he spotted Bonnie Raitt. "Oh my god, there’s Bonnie Raitt. Holy shit, that’s huge, that’s the last one on the list," Grohl said, all excited. When we pointed out to him that both of them had covered a Gerry Rafferty song, with Foos having done "Baker Street" and Raitt's new single being "Right Down The Line," he smiled and said, "Have fun, I'm gonna go talk to her."

Inside the L.A. Convention Center a few moments later, we bumped into Grohl again and asked him if he had mentioned the Rafferty connection. "No, I just freaked out all over her," he said, laughing.

The mutual admiration society was in full effect. Raitt said the props meant a lot to her. "It really blew me away, I was so surprised," she said. "And I’m a huge fan of theirs, so I was able to tell him that. But I would have not expected that. I don’t know why, but it really boosted me."

And as an added bonus, Raitt got some serious cool points with her family. "I immediately emailed my nephews and grandnephews and said, 'Guess what?'" she said. "I’m instantly cool, but, for me, musician to musician, it meant a lot. "

Flattery and coolness aside, it also helped confirm Raitt's decision to go indie with her upcoming album, Slipstream, due April 10th. "I could’ve gone with a couple of great labels that were offering to partner with me, but I have a really good team and I have the right pieces in place and I’ve been established," she said. "I’ve been around a long enough time, I think my fanbase is pretty secure."

The album was launched with her take on Rafferty's "Right Down The Line." Where did the idea for that song come from? "I just heard it and I went, 'Man, I just love that song so much,'" she said. "And I immediately thought of the guitar part of how to do it in my style and I had it way before I knew he was ill and was passing away. I wish I could’ve met him, huge fan, and that song in particular. I really love it."

The rest of the record features a mix of songs she had singer/songwriter Joe Henry produce and some some she self-produced. "Bill Frissell is my special guest on the record, and the rest of the tracks are going to be coming out later, the ones I did with Joe," she said. "And then I did eight tracks with my band, and we’re just smoking."

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Bonnie Raitt and Dave Grohl Form Mutual Admiration Society

Bonnie Raitt arrives at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Dave Grohl was talking to Rolling Stone on the red carpet of the MusiCares Salute to Paul McCartney when he spotted Bonnie Raitt. "Oh my god, there’s Bonnie Raitt. Holy shit, that’s huge, that’s the last one on the list," Grohl said, all excited. When we pointed out to him that both of them had covered a Gerry Rafferty song, with Foos having done "Baker Street" and Raitt's new single being "Right Down The Line," he smiled and said, "Have fun, I'm gonna go talk to her."

Inside the L.A. Convention Center a few moments later, we bumped into Grohl again and asked him if he had mentioned the Rafferty connection. "No, I just freaked out all over her," he said, laughing.

The mutual admiration society was in full effect. Raitt said the props meant a lot to her. "It really blew me away, I was so surprised," she said. "And I’m a huge fan of theirs, so I was able to tell him that. But I would have not expected that. I don’t know why, but it really boosted me."

And as an added bonus, Raitt got some serious cool points with her family. "I immediately emailed my nephews and grandnephews and said, 'Guess what?'" she said. "I’m instantly cool, but, for me, musician to musician, it meant a lot. "

Flattery and coolness aside, it also helped confirm Raitt's decision to go indie with her upcoming album, Slipstream, due April 10th. "I could’ve gone with a couple of great labels that were offering to partner with me, but I have a really good team and I have the right pieces in place and I’ve been established," she said. "I’ve been around a long enough time, I think my fanbase is pretty secure."

The album was launched with her take on Rafferty's "Right Down The Line." Where did the idea for that song come from? "I just heard it and I went, 'Man, I just love that song so much,'" she said. "And I immediately thought of the guitar part of how to do it in my style and I had it way before I knew he was ill and was passing away. I wish I could’ve met him, huge fan, and that song in particular. I really love it."

The rest of the record features a mix of songs she had singer/songwriter Joe Henry produce and some some she self-produced. "Bill Frissell is my special guest on the record, and the rest of the tracks are going to be coming out later, the ones I did with Joe," she said. "And then I did eight tracks with my band, and we’re just smoking."

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Bonnie Raitt Tackles Occupy Wall Street, Personal Tragedy on New Album

Bonnie Raitt performs during the MUSE Benefit Concert for Japan Relief at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California.

By the time Bonnie Raitt entered producer Joe Henry's studio in late 2010, she'd been through what she calls "a heavy time." Her parents had passed away in quick succession, and she took a long break from music to help care for her brother Steve, who died of brain cancer in April 2009. "I hadn't had time to process it all," she says. "I wanted to get off that treadmill."

To ease her way back into music, she took up Henry's offer to record at his basement studio in South Pasadena, California. Working with top-tier players such as guitarist Bill Frisell, they quickly cut four of the tunes – including killer, bluesy takes on Bob Dylan's "Million Miles" and "Standing in the Doorway" – for Slipstream, Raitt's first album since 2005 (due April 10th). "The sessions were so inspiring that I fell back in love with music and got my appetite for it back again," she says. "It was healing."

"Her voice has lost none of its power," Henry adds. "But it has extra smoke and nuance and life experience in there."

Raitt recorded the other eight songs on Slipstream with her longtime touring band, including a reggae-tinged cover of Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down the Line" and a funked-up spin on Randall Bramblett's "Used to Rule the World." "To me, that song is about the Occupy movement," Raitt says of the latter. "It's about the kind of hubris America has had, as if there are no consequences."

Raitt, who parted ways with Capitol in 2006, will release the album on her newly formed Redwing Records. "I've been wanting to do my own label for a long time," she says. One key benefit of recording without a major label? More of Raitt's trademark slide guitar. "We let the guitar jams go," she says. "That's something I haven't really done in the past. We left in the solos we would have normally cut out for singles. We just went for it."

Related
• Bonnie Raitt Readies First Album in Seven Years
• The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time: Bonnie Raitt
• The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time: Bonnie Raitt

This story is from the February 2nd, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

Bonnie Raitt Tackles Occupy Wall Street, Personal Tragedy on New Album

Bonnie Raitt performs during the MUSE Benefit Concert for Japan Relief at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California.

By the time Bonnie Raitt entered producer Joe Henry's studio in late 2010, she'd been through what she calls "a heavy time." Her parents had passed away in quick succession, and she took a long break from music to help care for her brother Steve, who died of brain cancer in April 2009. "I hadn't had time to process it all," she says. "I wanted to get off that treadmill."

To ease her way back into music, she took up Henry's offer to record at his basement studio in South Pasadena, California. Working with top-tier players such as guitarist Bill Frisell, they quickly cut four of the tunes – including killer, bluesy takes on Bob Dylan's "Million Miles" and "Standing in the Doorway" – for Slipstream, Raitt's first album since 2005 (due April 10th). "The sessions were so inspiring that I fell back in love with music and got my appetite for it back again," she says. "It was healing."

"Her voice has lost none of its power," Henry adds. "But it has extra smoke and nuance and life experience in there."

Raitt recorded the other eight songs on Slipstream with her longtime touring band, including a reggae-tinged cover of Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down the Line" and a funked-up spin on Randall Bramblett's "Used to Rule the World." "To me, that song is about the Occupy movement," Raitt says of the latter. "It's about the kind of hubris America has had, as if there are no consequences."

Raitt, who parted ways with Capitol in 2006, will release the album on her newly formed Redwing Records. "I've been wanting to do my own label for a long time," she says. One key benefit of recording without a major label? More of Raitt's trademark slide guitar. "We let the guitar jams go," she says. "That's something I haven't really done in the past. We left in the solos we would have normally cut out for singles. We just went for it."

Related
• Bonnie Raitt Readies First Album in Seven Years
• The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time: Bonnie Raitt
• The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time: Bonnie Raitt

This story is from the February 2nd, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »