Described by The New York Times in 2007 as “something of an Alamo, capturing the last of the [Bowery’s] wild, carnival spirit and the cavalcade of derelicts, drug dealers, artists, thugs and ...

Listen to Bettye LaVette's "Dirty Old Town" Along with the release of her Thankful N' Thoughtful LP, LaVette will release her autobiography, A Woman Like Me, o-written by David Ritz, on Sept. 27.

“So I tied Dirty Old Town to Salford in an indissoluble knot. It told me about where he’d been brought up.” The song, first released in 1952, went on to be covered by The Dubliners and The Pogues.