Perennial also-ran Bettye Lavette, among the many very good 1960s Detroit soul singers not signed to Motown—others include Barbara Lewis, Deon Jackson and Edwin Starr—offers a concept album of sorts.

Bettye LaVette is one of the greatest soul singers in American music history, possessed of an incredibly expressive voice that one moment will exude a formidable level of strength and intensity and ...

Bettye LaVette is an underappreciated, opinionated, tell-it-like-it-is singer. "There's isn't anyone at Motown that I didn't see drunk, broke or naked," said the Detroit-reared R&B vocalist, who after ...