Give It Up

Raitt recorded her second album in June 1972 at Bearsville Studios in New York with the producer Michael Cuscuna. Seven of the ten tracks are covers, among them songs by Chris Smither, Jackson Browne, Joel Zoss and Sippie Wallace, and she wrote three. Many of the guests came from around Woodstock, including John Hall, Freebo and Paul Butterfield. The opening Give It Up or Let Me Go starts on acoustic guitar and moves into a New Orleans-style brass band sound.

It was her first album to reach the Billboard Top LPs and Tape chart, peaking at No. 138, and it was certified gold in 1985. Too Long at the Fair went to radio as a promotional single but did not chart. In Rolling Stone, Jon Landau wrote that "the best thing about Give It Up is that she sings great from beginning to end". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it "one of the great Southern California records", and Rolling Stone placed it at No. 495 on its 2012 list of the 500 greatest albums. Raitt herself later said of her vocals: "I sound like Mickey Mouse!"