Bonnie Raitt (Remastered)

Because Bonnie Raitt was not tied up in the New York or Los Angeles scenes, her 1971 debut was largely overlooked in the singer-songwriter sweepstakes of the early '70s. Raitt synthesizes a diverse and often unexpected body of material — everything from Stephen Stills’ “Bluebird” to the Marvelettes’ “Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead” and Tommy Johnson’s 1928 “Big Road Blues”— and makes it all feel like a living-room jam session. The warm, lived-in atmosphere is aided by producer Willie Murphy who recorded the album at an empty summer camp on Enchanted Island, isolated on Lake Minnetonka, about 30 miles west of Minneapolis. Because of its unusual locale and its homegrown cast of contributors — among them Junior Wells, Paul Pena and Raitt’s longtime cohort Freebo — Bonnie Raitt has an atmosphere unlike anything else. Of course, Raitt herself is the album’s rock. At only 21, she makes convincing the rollicking “Mighty Tight Woman” and “Walking Blues” as well as the aching “Thank You” and “Finest Lovin’ Man.” Her version of John Koerner’s “I Ain’t Blue” is unforgettable, one of the era’s slyest heartbreakers.