My Mixtape

What's your favorite song? Or a song that holds meaning for you? KALW News has been asking these questions to people all around the Bay Area and here's what we've found.Want to share your own story of a significant song? Click here to find out how.

My Mixtape: "Just Like That" by Bonnie Raitt

KALW | By Stafford Hemmer

Published May 9, 2026 at 2:28 PM PDT

Bonnie Raitt singing at a campaign rally in 2007 for then-Presidential hopeful John Edwards. Photo taken in Grinnell, Iowa.

Bonnie Raitt wrote and produced the award-winning song Just Like That, which was released in 2022. It tells of a woman who gets a visit from a man who received a heart transplant, and the organ donor was her son. The story is based on actual events.
This moved Amanda Newstetter in a very personal way, because of her wife's experience.

Amanda today; she did say that Donna did indeed soften. They are both doing well in San Francisco.

Back in 2020, Amanda's wife Donna had a liver transplant. She was unable to convince Donna to connect with her donor's family; Donna just wasn't ready at the time to do it.
Amanda is moved to tears each time she hears the song. It's the selflessness of donating an organ, and the power in the act of gratitude and acceptance. And it's the love shared between the donor and their family.