NOTES
Released in the spring of 1977, Sweet Forgiveness is Bonnie Raitt's sixth album, a ten-song collection that established the singer / guitarist as one of contemporary music's most distinctive song stylists. Highlighting material from such top-notch songwriters as Jackson Browne, Karla Bonoff and Paul Seibel, Sweet Forgiveness was a certified gold seller and yielded a hit song with Raitt's rendition of Del Shannon's "Runaway."
The daughter of Broadway singer John Raitt, who starred in Pajama Game and Carousel, Bonnie Raitt began playing guitar at age 12. Drawn to a wide range of musical styles, she was particularly attracted to the blues and, after dropping out of Radcliffe, became a regular on the Boston-Philadelphia folk circuit. Raitt released her self-titled debut album in 1971, followed, a year later, by Give It Up. The LPs spotlighted Raitt's richly textured singing and guitar playing, especially her bottleneck blues technique, as well as a flair for selecting memorable songs from a wide range of sources.
The trend continued with Takin' My Time (1973), Streetlights (1974) and Homeplate (1975). Material on these LPs also reflected Raitt's broad musical base, ranging from R&B, pop and folk as well as the blues. In the meantime, the singer had earned a reputation as an accomplished live performer, sharing the stage with such blues greats as Sippie Wallace, Howlin' Wolf and Mississippi Fred McDowell.
Sweet Forgiveness, produced by Paul Rothchild, brought the music of Bonnie Raitt to a whole new audience. The breakthrough LP not only contained the hit "Runaway," but also spotlighted Jackson Browne's "My Opening Farewell," Eric Kaz's "Gamblin' Man," Mark Jordan's "Two Lives" and "Takin' My Time" by Little Feat's Bill Payne.
