Something to Talk About : These Days, Luck and Success Are Legitimate Topics for Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt was notably feisty and full of herself on her last two visits to Orange County--and why not? When she played the Coach House in June 1989, her “Nick of Time” album, released earlier that year, had gone gold, establishing Raitt as one of the biggest (and most deserving) comeback stories in years. It was obvious then that Raitt wasn’t going to be back at the Coach House, a longtime port of call during leaner times, for a while to come.

When Raitt next came to Orange County, in September 1990, “Nick of Time” had gone from a hit comeback to a phenomenon, selling more than 3 million copies and winning Raitt three Grammy Awards (she received a fourth for that year for a blues duet with John Lee Hooker on his album, “The Healer”). This time she played Irvine Meadows, ending her “Nick of Time” tour on a triumphant note.

With her follow-up album, “Luck of the Draw,” Raitt has stayed in the groove that took her from a critically esteemed figure with a cultish audience to a mass-audience success. The production, once more by Don Was, surrounds Raitt’s rich, tawny voice with polished arrangements that stop well short of slickness (given Raitt’s grit, you’d have to pour a lot of aural sugar into the production to make anything she’s involved in sound phony). Once again, Raitt has a hit on her hands: “Luck of the Draw” has sold more than 1 million copies and made the Top 10 on the Billboard pop albums chart.

As the prospect of a return to her club-hopping days grows ever more distant, Raitt isn’t about the become too full of herself. In the last two songs of “Luck of the Draw,” she casts chance, not justice, as the ruling force when it comes to art and love. Singing “Luck of the Draw,” by Irish songwriter Paul Brady, Raitt identifies with all the artists who tend bar to stay alive while waiting for a magic letter to land in the mailbox. On her own sorrowful concluding ballad, “All at Once,” she plays the role of a woman for whom divorce has turned disastrous. “Why the angels turn their backs on some is just a mystery to me,” she concludes.

As long as the angels smile, Raitt has been intent on spreading her good luck. On the “Nick of Time” tour, she helped bring the overlooked 1940s-vintage blues man Charles Brown back into the spotlight. At Irvine Meadows, she also brought along NRBQ (Raitt’s audience didn’t warm to that veteran roadhouse band’s wonderful eccentricities, but it was a nice gesture on her part).

This time, Raitt has brought another veteran Coach House trouper, John Prine, along for a spin on the big stage. Prine, one of the most highly regarded songwriters of the past 20 years, is responsible for gems such as “Angel From Montgomery,” the most moving song in Raitt’s repertoire. Prine’s new album, “The Missing Years,” gives a well-rounded account of his songwriting range, moving from sheer whimsy to heartfelt odes to love to chastened, almost cynical songs in which he tries to use wit as a shield against pain.

Who: Bonnie Raitt.

When: Sunday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. With John Prine.

Where: Irvine Meadows, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine.

Whereabouts: San Diego Freeway to Irvine Center Drive exit. Turn left at the end of the ramp if you’re coming from the south, right if you’re coming from the north.

Wherewithal: $25.75 and $21.75.

Where to call: (714) 855-8096.