Bonnie Raitt at the Adler Theatre -- September 5.
Wednesday, September 5, 7:30 p.m.
Adler Theatre, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
Less than a year after being recognized for her lifetime of artistic achievements as part of the Kennedy Center's 47th class of honorees, multi-platinum-selling superstar Bonnie Raitt brings her national tour to Davenport's Adler Theatre on September 10, her collection of smash-hit albums including Slipstream, Luck of the Draw, and the chart-toppers Longing in Their Hearts and 1989's iconic Nick of Time. Joining her will be special guests Jimmie Vaughan & the Tilt-A-Whirl Band, the bandleader a four-time Grammy Award winner and 2020 recipient of the Blues Music Award for Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year.
In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album, and followed it with a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced recording that incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk, and country. She was also a frequent session player and collaborator with other artists, including Warren Zevon, Little Feat, Jackson Browne, the Pointer Sisters, John Prine, and Leon Russell. In 1989, after several years of limited commercial success, she had a major hit with her 10th studio album Nick of Time, which reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart, became a quintuple-platinum success, and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It has since been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry. Her next two albums, 1991's Luck of the Draw and 1994's and Longing in Their Hearts, were additional multimillion sellers that generated several hit singles, including "Something to Talk About," "Love Sneakin' Up On You," and the ballad "I Can't Make You Love Me" (with Bruce Hornsby on piano). Her 2022 single "Just Like That" won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
As of 2025, Raitt has received 13 competitive Grammy Awards from 31 nominations, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. She ranked number 50 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" and number 89 on the magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." Australian country-music artist Graeme Connors has said "Bonnie Raitt does something with a lyric no one else can do; she bends it and twists it right into your heart." In 2000, Raitt was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has also received the Icon Award from the Billboard Women in Music Awards and the MusiCares Person of the Year Award from The Recording Academy, while last December, she was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honor.
Getting the chance to open for Jimi Hendrix when he was 16 years old, along with being heavily influenced by B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Freddie King, and many other artists, convinced the young Jimmie Vaughan it was time to find a way to play the music he felt the strongest about: the blues. That took him to hitchhiking to Austin in the early '70s and carving out a new crew of blues players who shared his musical excitement. He formed the Fabulous Thunderbirds and their debut album Girls Go Wild on Takoma Records was released in 1979. After worldwide success with the Fabulous Thunderbirds during the '80s, it came time to leave the band and build his own path in exploring different approaches to the blues. He and his brother Stevie Ray Vaughan collaborated and released Family Style to great acclaim and recognition in the music industry.
He then released his first solo album on Epic Records in the early '90s, and what Vaughan discovered was that he could take it anywhere; there were no boundaries. “I wanted to find out what I could really do,” he says, “and when I started singing it gave me a whole new side to explore. When I was young I didn’t really pay much attention to categories of music. I just heard what I liked and decided to explore that and that’s really what I‘m still doing.”
Bonnie Raitt and Jimmie Vaugahn & the Tilt-A-Whirl Band bring their national tour to Davenport on September 10, admission to the 7:30 p.m. concerts starts at $69, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 and visiting DavenportLive.com/the-adler-theatre.
