Bettye LaVette

The 43rd Ann Arbor Folk Festival took place at Hill Auditorium last Friday and Saturday night. The two-day event was a benefit for legendary local music venue The Ark and featured national and local artists from Iron & Wine + Calexico to Molly Tuttle, Cold Tone Harvest, Bettye Lavette, and Nathaniel Rateliff. Willie Porter emceed the festival. A recap from Saturday:

Nathaniel Rateliff

Bettye LaVette is worthy and so is her brand new record. The “Great Lady of Soul” earned her nickname the hard way, staying true to herself and her dream for decades before the world finally listened. She was on the verge of stardom at 16, but had to wait 43 years until the 2005 release I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise for her career breakthrough.

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