The Unexpected Journey of bonnie Raitt’s Slide Guitar Fame
“Slide guitar was once a rarity,” Bonnie Raitt remarked. “Now, it’s featured in every beer and truck advertisement. Every sitcom has slide guitar.”
As the most renowned female slide guitarist, Raitt’s distinctive guitar style unexpectedly became the backbone of one of television’s most iconic franchises, all without her initial awareness of the impact she was making.
A Star-Studded Collaboration
In 1988, while working on his third solo project, One More Story, Peter Cetera sought to infuse his album with vibrant energy. He invited a host of musical legends, including Madonna, David Gilmour from Pink Floyd, and richard Sterban of the oak Ridge Boys, to contribute.
For the song “Save Me,” Cetera had a specific sound in mind and reached out to Raitt, the best slide guitarist he knew. “He asked if I would come in and play slide on this song, and I did,” Raitt recounted in a 1989 interview with Guitar Player.
(Image credit: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)
At that time, Raitt was on the cusp of her career-defining moment with the release of Nick of Time, which would soon catapult her to stardom.Even though she wasn’t yet a household name, she was already recognized as a “musician’s musician,” adept at enhancing any track.
“I see myself primarily as an accompanist on the guitar,” she explained. “When there’s a groove,I can slide on just about anything.”
Raitt humbly acknowledged her limitations, stating, “I don’t have extensive technical skills, as I’m not a formally trained musician. I frequently enough play the same Muddy Waters lick repeatedly across different songs.”
(Image credit: Richard McCaffrey/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images)
From Studio to Screen
Fast forward to 1989, Raitt’s session with Cetera was a thing of the past, and her life had transformed dramatically. Nick of Time had become a massive success,producing hits like the title track and her rendition of John Hiatt’s “Thing Called Love.”
while she was busy promoting her groundbreaking album, Raitt stumbled upon an unexpected twist: her slide guitar work for Cetera had become the theme for a television show.
“One day, I was flipping through channels at home,” she recalled. “Suddenly, I heard this theme song, and it was my solo!”
(Image credit: Richard E.Aaron/Redferns)
As she watched,the gritty,Muddy Waters-inspired riffs she had laid down in a dimly lit studio were now the soundtrack to a vibrant montage of lifeguards in spandex on the beach.
“There are people jumping around, and I’m thinking, ‘Give me a break!’” she laughed. ”I thought, ’That guy is stealing my song.’ And then it hit me-it was me!”
Cetera had licensed “Save Me” to the creators of a new NBC action-drama series called Baywatch, featuring stars like David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson. The song’s lyrics about being “caught in raging water” and needing someone to ”throw me the rope” perfectly complemented the show’s iconic rescue scenes.
Raitt’s moment as a primetime guitar sensation was short-lived, however. NBC canceled Baywatch after its first season. When the show was later revived for syndication, eventually becoming a global sensation with over a billion viewers, Cetera’s music was deemed too costly.The producers opted for a more budget-kind theme, Jimi Jamison’s “I’m Always Here.”
As for Raitt, she continued to thrive. Nick of Time topped the Billboard 200 chart, selling five million copies and earning three Grammy Awards, including Album of the year. This marked the beginning of a triumphant trajectory in her career that remains strong today.
