Death Was Bonnie Raitt's Inspiration for Her New Album "Dig in Deep"

By Timothy Yap Jan 07, 2016 03:06 AM EST

According to Ecclesiastes 7:2, death can be a great teacher. This is so true of Bonnie Raitt in crafting her 20th album Dig in Deep. Death was this Grammy Award winner's muse for the writing of this new record. Between the years 2004 and 2009, Raitt lost her father, her mother, and her brother.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Raitt confesses: "I had a decade of a lot of loss. [Raitt's mother, father, and brother all died between 2004 and 2009.] I was depleted, but like when your car runs out of battery and your friend pushes you, I got a push. My guitarist George Marinelli sent me the track, "If You Need Somebody," and I got the wheels going. I knew I was going to write something about dad, and it was going to be said, so I was glad to break that block."

Dig in Deep contains Raitt's largest collection of original material in over two decades - since the release of Fundamental in 1998. The project is a mark of growth for the singer, who says that her main goal in music has been to continue the evolution of her sound.

"I was only interested in doing this if I could continue to grow - find new songs and new combinations of ways to play things," she says. "My role models were old R&B and blues artists, like Tony Bennett and my dad, [John Raitt]: artists who've gone into their older years growing richer. I'm modeling myself after them. People only get more interesting and deeper as they get older."

Following a two-year trek in support of Slipstream, Raitt quickly returned to the studio with her touring band to record Dig In Deep. Raitt produced the album herself - save one song, pulled from her 2010 sessions with Slipstream co-producer Joe Henry - and wrote five new tracks, the most original material she's penned for a record since 1998's Fundamental.

"I was really inspired to come up with some songs that went with grooves that I missed playing in my live show, and to dig deeper into some topics I hadn't yet mined," Raitt said in a statement. "I don't write easily and can get distracted, but remembering how satisfying it was to come up with something new of my own, and writing with guys I love -like my longtime bandmates George Marinelli and Jon Cleary - I found that once the wheels started turning, the music came pouring out."

Dig in Deep is scheduled for release on Feb. 26. The album is available for pre-order on iTunes and Amazon.

Track list:

1. Unintended Consequence Of Love
2. Need You Tonight
3. I Knew
4. All Alone With Something To Say
5. What You're Doin' To Me
6. Shakin' Shakin' Shakes
7. Undone
8. If You Need Somebody
9. Gypsy In Me
10. The Comin' Round Is Going Through
11. You've Changed My Mind
12. The Ones We Couldn't Be