BEST
9. BETTYE LAVETTE
The Scene of the Crime (Anti-)
Critics have lined up to call her the greatest soul singer alive. But LaVette, 61, recently argued that ''soul'' is a white man's misnomer. Maybe best blues interpreter, then? A track like ''Talking Old Soldiers'' — crooned in a bar to a stranger, by an aging drunk who's seen all her friends die — gets to the essence of despair the way great blues does...even if it's actually an Elton John cover. Enlisting the Drive-By Truckers as her rowdy, ragged backup band, LaVette continues to imbue her other borrowed tracks (from Don Henley, George Jones, and Willie Nelson) with grit, anguish, and even some serious sex appeal. She's a force of nature we'll just have to settle on labeling as awesome.