Bonnie Raitt made her professional debut performing in and around Philadelphia in 1969 shortly after taking a break from college to explore a career in music. As a lover of folk music she heard at camp, she picked up the guitar around 9 years old to play songs by her heroes Joan Baez, Odetta and Bob Dylan. Always a fan of Ray Charles, Fats Domino and Motown as well, she first fell hard for the blues through The Rolling Stones and English bands who turned the world onto Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf in the mid-sixties. She fell under the spell of Country blues at 14 and taught herself slide and blues guitar listening to records until she had the great opportunity to befriend and learn from legendary Blues artists like Mississippi Fred McDowell, Muddy Waters, Son House and Sippie Wallace. What started out as a hobby, through a kismet of timing and opportunity, became a career. A few of her performances were captured on TV during the 70’s, including her 1976 performance on the BBC’s iconic ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’ program recorded in London. From: https://www.bonnieraitt.com/flashback-to-the-old-grey-whistle-test-bbc-1976/
In the 1970s, "The Old Grey Whistle Test" was a popular BBC TV show. Typically, it would have a variety of different performers for each show, but occasionally it would devote an entire show to just one artist. One such occasion was when the American singer Bonnie Raitt played a short concert for the show in London in 1976. Most of the songs are from her early 1970s albums, but she also does a couple from her latest at the time, "Home Plate," released in 1975. From: https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2022/08/bonnie-raitt-bbc-concert-old-grey.html
