The night before, when she was also due to play at the iconic venue, Los Angeles-based Beth - who was recovering from Covid - had to cancel at the last minute. “It makes you crazy in your head - I was tripping,” the 51-year-old musician told the 2300-strong crowd. “But tonight I’m strong enough to give it a shot.” If she was off colour, it certainly didn’t show. (Express)
The set - with a smattering of her biggest hits, plus covers (including Tom Waits’ Chocolate Jesus) and lesser known surprises - was part blues, part jazz, part rock and roll, with a little bit of Baptist church thrown in.
“This song scares me, so pray for me,” she joked, as she took us to church with the wonderfully uptempo Spirit of God. I knew I was treading on hallowed ground with this one. I know where I am - in England - the home of Led Zeppelin. I could be killed for getting this wrong,” said Beth, before launching into When the Levee Breaks/Dancing Days.
My first working experience with [Beck] was just as a writer. We got together and wrote together. I didn’t know who Jeff Beck was, so I wasn’t freaked out and nervous – whereas, my husband and my manager, they were trippin’. I said, “Why the fuck are you guys trippin’?” They’re like, “Because you’re about to work with the most innovative guitarist of all time.” So I’m like, “Uhhh, okay!” I get in there to write and while I’m writing, I start getting nervous – because I start hearing someone play like I’ve never heard anyone play.
Jeff leaves the room and I talked to the engineer and I’m like, “Dude, what the fuck? This dude’s insane!” He’s like, “Dude, this is like one of the greatest guitarists ever.” I’m freaking the frick out. Anyway, we leave and the next thing I know, I get a phone call. I don’t know, it was a couple of weeks or a month later. Jeff’s like, “I want you to be my singer, for the first tour I’ve done in the United States since Rod [Stewart] back in the ‘70s,” He also said, “I want you to learn some stuff.”
At the moment I’ve been listening to a lot of Nina Simone, Howlin’ Wolf, Billie Holiday and Humble Pie. I kinda go through phases of listening to choice music, I listen to a lot of jazz these days, a lot of Dinah Washington who I’m a huge fan of, it changes all the time, but that’s what I’ve been listening to a lot lately.”
“I write in a lot of different genres; I had a bunch of jazzy and bluesy stuff a
nd kinda alternatives to Jazz and blues that I really wanted to do and I knew because that the experience had been so difficult with Better Than Home, when you fall off a horse they say get back on otherwise you’ll be scared, it was kinda like that, I’ve gotta get back in the studio right away and have a positive one or I might have a really tough time next time I go make a record.
