Bonnie Raitt’s latest Grammy-winning song was recorded in a Bay Area studio
Bonnie Raitt at the 65th annual Grammy Awards, held at the Crytpo.com Arena in Los Angeles on Feb. 5, 2023. Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Raitt lives in both Marin County and Southern California, dividing her time
Though Bonnie Raitt now holds more than a dozen Grammy awards, she certainly seemed surprised to win song of the year at Monday night’s celebration.
When the singer and songwriter’s name was called — by none other than first lady Jill Biden — she paused for a beat, mouth agape, before getting up to collect the award for her song “Just Like That.”
Later, she collected a second Grammy for best American roots song for the same tune. Speaking to American Songwriter, Raitt explained how she was inspired to write the song after watching a news segment about a mother who had donated her child’s heart after his sudden death.
“I just lost it,” she said. “It was the most moving and surprising thing. I wasn’t expecting it. I vowed right then that I wanted to write a song about what that would take.”
What some might also find surprising about the win is that Raitt recorded the album right here in the Bay Area in the summer of 2021, in Marin County’s tiny waterside enclave of Sausalito.
In fact, according to Billboard magazine, Raitt is a Bay Area resident. She relocated to Marin County part time after the tour for her 1989 album “Nick of Time,” following in the footsteps of her hero Joan Baez, who famously resided in Big Sur. Raitt now splits her time between Marin and the Los Angeles area, Billboard reported.
The album was recorded at Sausalito’s Studio D Recording, which opened in 1984. It’s where a number of chart-topping 1980s albums were made, including Huey Lewis and the News’ “Fore!” and Bruce Hornsby & the Range’s “The Way It Is.” The queen herself, Aretha Franklin, recorded “Aretha” there in 1986.
Sausalito has another recording studio, the Record Factory, which was rebooted in 2021 from the ashes of the Record Plant, which closed in 2008, according to the Pacific Sun. It was the studio where Fleetwood Mac famously recorded 1977’s “Rumours,” considered by many to be one of the greatest albums of all time.
–Kendra Smith SFGATE