“If I was only doing blues, we wouldn’t be sitting here. The mix of what I do is what makes it stand out”: Bonnie Raitt on why pushing beyond the blues was key to her success – that, and making her guitar “sound like bacon smells”

Genre-spanning singer, guitarist, and songwriter Bonnie Raitt has helmed a formidable rock, folk, and blues career. Not bad for someone who started noodling on a $25 guitar from Sears at the tender age of 8 and claims music was “just a hobby and a passion of mine” and “never expected it to be my life.”

One of Raitt's key trump cards is her fluency in various genres. Not only that, it’s also the fact that she’s never shied away from experimentation and bringing in fresh sounds.

In a new career retrospective for The Washington Post, Raitt puts her trajectory down to her versatility.

“If I was only doing blues, we wouldn’t be sitting here, she explains. “The mix of what I do is what makes it stand out. If I didn’t play guitar the way I did, I would never have gotten a record deal.”

Her ultimate goal? To make her guitar “sound like bacon smells. It can break my heart. it just expresses, you know, it's my thing” – as she famously said in a 1999 CBS interview when referring to her 1965 Fender Strat, a quip that inspired generations of players.

Various artists have commented on Raitt's influence over the years, particularly her guitar playing. The late B.B. King, one of Raitt's many collaborators, once described her as “the best damn slide player working.”

Elsewhere in the Post article, Sheryl Crow states that “Bonnie epitomized and personified what I saw for myself,” and served as “the template for showing me that a woman can front a band playing the guitar. She shares her ideas. She’s an excellent mentor.”

“It was a great voice learning to expand itself to its potential,” adds Taj Mahal – an observation that also extends to her distinct guitar playing. “She’s done the thing that you have to do with your voice, and that is make it a signature. As soon as you hear it, you know who you’re listening to.”