1. "Them There Eyes" Seesaw, Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa’s second album collaboration, opens with "Them There Eyes," made famous in 1939 by Billie Holiday—one of Hart’s biggest inspirations. "My mother turned me on to this song when I was a kid," says Beth. "I love the bubbliness. It’s sexy, it’s fun, and it has a great swing to it."
2. "Close To My Fire" Next up, Hart offers a super sultry take on a much more contemporary cover, 2012’s "Close To My Fire" from Slackwax. "I didn’t immediately jump on this song, but my husband did and my manager loved it," she says. "I was intimidated because the woman who sang it with Slackwax just nailed it, and I had to find my own way of getting it right. It didn’t click with me until the day we did it. I felt like I ended up having nice timing on the song, and the band played amazing." 3. "Nutbush City Limits" On "Nutbush City Limits," Hart wails with an intensity that would make Tina Turner proud. "Kevin sprung that song on me the last day of recording. He said, ‘We’re going to do this in half an hour.’ I remembered that in the Tina Turner movie What’s Love Got To Do With It, Ike is being abusive to her, telling her to sing the song like a man, to sing it hard. I adore Tina, and doing "Nutbush City Limits" was a big challenge. I went outside, listened to her version, and then came back in the studio and did it. It ended up feeling incredible to sing, and the band killed it."
4. "I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know" Hart’s slow and soulful burn on "I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know" pairs dramatically with Bonamassa’s smoking guitar. "It’s a Donnie Hathaway song that I really got turned on to when I saw a live version of it that Amy Winehouse did in France. I found it online. To prepare, I learned Donnie’s version, but Amy did an amazing job with it as well."
5. "Can’t Let Go" The tempo kicks up several notches with Hart’s tight, rocking vocals on "Can’t Let Go," from Lucinda Williams’ Grammy-winning 1998 album Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. "I love the southern appeal of this one—playing out of a little sugar shack, and singing that song about your man walking away from you. It’s a classic," says Hart.
6. "Miss Lady" Up next is a fierce cover of "Miss Lady," the Buddy Miles song that was originally produced by Jimi Hendrix. "Kevin played this for me when we recorded Don’t Explain, and I didn’t want to do it," says Hart. "He suggested it again this time, and I still didn’t want to do it. It wasn’t that I didn’t think it was a great song, it was just so vocally demanding. I felt I would screw it up. At the end of one long day, he said, ‘Let’s just do a quick pass on it.’ My throat was so tired, I just screamed it out, and he kept it. It was a nice surprise."
7. "If I Tell You I Love You" Hart revisits Melody Gardot’s songbook to deliver a sultry, jazzy rendition of "If I Tell You I Love You." "Her voice and her songwriting are incredible. It feels so good to sing this song, it just rolls off the tongue. The lyrics, the melody, the vibe are great," says Hart.
8. "Rhymes" It pairs beautifully with "Rhymes," which Hart found on an album by her idol Etta James. "I have a huge collection of recordings by Etta," she says. "I decided to go through every single one, and I came across ‘Rhymes.’ I loved the low end singing, the bottom end stuff. It has attitude, but there’s an innocence to the attitude, and a wonderful groove."
9. "Sunday Kind Of Love" Another Etta James song follows, a gorgeous take on the classic "Sunday Kind Of Love." "I have loved this song forever," says Hart. "It was one that Kevin and I both agreed on, but he was the first to suggest it, he beat me to the punch. I worked hard on it and tried to have faith in myself. This song was a big one for my mother. So I was thinking about Etta, and also about my mom, knowing that she would love it, and that it would mean something special to her."
10. "Seesaw" "Seesaw," is a Don Covay/Steve Cropper composition from Aretha Franklin’s 1968 album Aretha Now. "This is another one I’ve always adored," says Hart. "It’s really high up in the range, and I asked Kevin to take it down a whole step. He said, ‘No, you can do it.’ It’s a really fun song, high energy, with a lot of attitude. Kevin liked it for the title track because he felt it was a good way of describing the ups and downs of the record."
11. "Strange Fruit" The album closes with Hart’s haunting and atmospheric version of "Strange Fruit," a song that began as a poem about American racism—and lynching—by Abel Meeropol. "This is one of the most amazing songs ever written. The lyrical concept is one of the most important things in American history. Billie Holiday and Nina Simone both did great recordings, but Nina’s is the one that Kevin really had me listen to. I don’t have any personal relationship to slavery in my family, but I can at least sing it from a place of compassion."
