Nothing Was Delivered

Word on Twitter is that Etta James has passed away. I actually still remember the first time I became aware of her. Of course, I knew the song At Last, but didn’t know her name or her history.

Then one night I was in a cabin in Maine with a girl who loved Etta James. She loved her spirit and her soul, and they way it came out in her music. We turned on the TV and Etta was Letterman and blew me away.

I can’t find video of that on YouTube, so I wanted to post another personal favorite. Thanks to the success of At Last, people tended to think of her as a balladeer. But she had incredible range, and was also a great blues shouter. This song rocks as hard as the best 60’s soul numbers.