Duke Levine has a stock line other musicians might find depressing.
“I like to say, ‘I have never gotten a gig I auditioned for,” Levine told the Boston Herald. “For whatever reason, that’s what has happened.”
The Worcester-raised, New England Conservatory-educated, Boston-based guitarist’s latest gig that he didn’t audition for is playing beside the great Bonnie Raitt — he takes the stage with Raitt June 11 at the Cape Cod Melody Tent and June 15 at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway.
Levine thinks Raitt might have been vaguely aware of his playing (he has logged years on the road with Peter Wolf, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and others). But like most of the jobs he’s landed, it was other musicians’ recommendations that got him the position. Basically, Bonnie’s band gave him the thumbs up — including Somerville-native and longtime-Raitt bassist James Hutchinson
“Hutch put my name in there,” Levine said. “Then there were some guitarists she trusted who vouched for me. And then pretty much everyone in the band, including (Raitt’s bandmate of decades) guitarist George Marinelli, who was leaving.”
Duke is a first call guitarist. He can play meat-and-potatoes rock, heady jazz, twang-heavy country, and stuff that defies genre (see his jams with Cambridge-collective Club d’Elf). But Raitt is an absolute rock/blues/soul/folk champion. Since leaving Radcliffe College for a music career at the beginning of the ’70s, she and her immaculate-and-dirty slide guitar have tallied 13 Grammys and a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“She has an iconic sound that is up there for me with all my favorites,” Levine said. “She plays like she sings, beautifully, and you know exactly who it is within a couple notes. I also love a lot of her electric rhythm guitar playing… and her acoustic blues and finger-picking.”
“I had her (1972 album) ‘Give It Up’ in high school and I knew the whole record,” he said. “I listened to it a lot and it always stuck with me.”
Note: “Give It Up” is an absolute scorcher of a record.
Levine can scorch with the best of him. But something that he enjoys about playing with Raitt these days is the subtlety and nuance embedded in her songs and live approach.
“We have pretty different sounds, she has a classic, cleanish strat sound that’s very pure,” he said. “My playing tends to find a different space sonically than hers. The band is so great, always playing the right thing, so you don’t have to do a lot. When George Marinelli played with her, he always played very sparingly. I can always learn from a player like that.”
“I try to play less the older I get,” he added with a laugh. “It’s a goal of mine.”
It will be fun to hear Levine get back with his Cambridge crews and play some local gigs with a big rock or wild jazz sound. But he loves playing with more taste, touch, and restraint on the Raitt tour. Maybe he’s playing fewer notes, but he’s not really playing less: This Raitt road trip is packed with dates deep into November and much of his offtime with the tour will give him time to do gigs with Peter Wolf around New England this summer.
For tickets and details, visit bonnieraitt.com and dukelevine.com