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Critically acclaimed and blessed with a voice described as “raspy,” “sassy,” “raunchy” and “sweet ’n soulful,” Bette grippingly fuses the soul, rock & roll, funk, blues, and gospel music she heard in her Brooklyn youth into something all her own.
“It was culturally alive and it still is. There were a lot of block parties in the summer. They would import bands from Memphis and Mississippi and us brown and black girls would be jamming to these groups,” says Bette Smith, as she walks around the neighborhood of her upbringing, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY.
She traveled to the UK to make her new album Goodthing (July 12, 2024 / Kartel Music Group) with GRAMMY Award-winning producer Jimmy Hogarth (Amy Winehouse, James Blunt, James Bay, Anonhi & The Johnsons, Sia, Corinne Bailey Rae, Tina Turner). Hogarth attests, “Bette is the real deal. Her delivery is the truth and comes straight from the heart. She is able to communicate with ease with her wonderful gift of a voice and I was delighted to work on this record.” The young Bette Smith would have no idea that her music would take her around the world, from shows in America headlining and supporting the likes of Kenny Wayne Shepherd and the Drive-By Truckers to festivals in North America and Europe; from working with artists like Jimbo Mathus, Kirk Fletcher, Patterson Hood, and Matt Patton (of the Drive-By Truckers) to spotlights in the pages of The New York Times, Billboard, Paste, Bust, and beyond; from the airwaves of NPR World Café and the top 40 of the Americana Music Radio Chart to official Spotify playlist adds and a song streamed well over a million times. MOJO called her “the next big-voiced soul sensation out of Brooklyn.” “A rugged, chugging southern soul record… Like Betty Davis or Betty Wright before her, she imbues tracks with shingly, saw-toothed texture, capable of breaking off a high note with a throaty cry or scraping so low and wide that she threatens to put her bass player out of work.” – Billboard “Bette Smith moved effortlessly across the stage wearing a tight holographic vinyl dress and five-inch-heeled thigh-high boots, strutting like Tina Turner.” – The New York Times “A stompin’ good time!” – All Things Considered “A major new voice in soul music… Brooklyn’s Bette Smith possesses a one of a kind voice, deeply drenched in hot soul of the nearly incendiary Southern type. That voice could rock the biggest of stages and move mountains if it had to… Smith is the sort of artist that you’ll find yourself following her whole career.” – popmatters
