Review: Bonnie Raitt's return right-on, whether it was blues or ballads

Raitt has never been a prolific songwriter, but her new original tunes – especially "What You're Doin' to Me," in which she abandoned her guitar for a seat at the piano – melded seamlessly with her exquisitely chosen array of classic cover tunes, which stretched from a reggae-tinged version of Gerry Rafferty's "Down the Line" to a chug through Del Shannon's nugget "Runaway" ("my only hit," she declared) to her aching, acoustic rendition of John Prine's "Angel from Montgomery."

She was backed by her longtime crackerjack band – guitarist-mandolinist George Marinelli, bassist Hutch Hutchinson, drummer Ricky Fataar and keyboardist Mike Finnigan – but even when she turned the vocal chores over to Finnigan for a tear through B.B. King's "Don't Answer the Door," the instrumental focus was squarely on Raitt's own slinky, seemingly effortless slide guitar playing.

Led by the vocals of guitarist-trumpeter Lech Wierzynski, the Oakland-based California Honeydrops opened with a set drenched in the blues, but spiced with gospel (Sister Rosetta Tharpe's "Up Above My Head"), jug band music ("Pumpkin Pie" with drummer Ben Malament switching to washboard) and vintage New Orleans R&B (the syncopated "Junker's Blues" powered by keyboardist Lorenzo Loera).