Mavis Staples - We Get By
Mavis Staples is a living legend!! Between marching with Martin Luther King Jr, performing at JFK’s and Obama’s inaugurations, collaborating with music heavyweights, and almost getting hitched to Bob Dylan, her bio reads like an American history lesson. An inductee of both the Blues and Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame, Staples has famously collaborated with Prince, Bob Dylan, The Band, Curtis Mayfield, Nick Cave, Neko Case, Arcade Fire, Hozier and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, just to name a few.
For her 12th studio album, We Get By, the gospel-R&B powerhouse joined forces with Ben Harper to write and produce a series of defiant declarations of peace, justice and heartbreak. The album’s powerful cover photograph is from Gordon Parks’ 1956 photo essay The Restraints: Open and Hidden, which helped expose Americans to the effects of racial segregation. The photograph is called Outside Looking In.
The album deals with some difficult subjects, but does so with a positivity that is joyous and uplifting, and offers up hope in this politically divided era. “These songs are delivering such a strong message,” Staples said. She looks to the formidable and progressive opening track Change as an example of the strength in the words she is belting. “We truly need to make a change if we want this world to be better.”
Out NOW through ANTI- via Bandcamp
THIS WEEK'S TOP TRACKS
Jamila Woods - 'ZORA'
AFAR - 'Urbanist'
Laneous - 'I Wanna Be Your Girl'
Jamie Blanco - 'Unit Of Pleasure'
Tim Shiel - 'Moon Scars'
Grup Ses & Elektro Hafız - 'Gargara'
Dreems - 'Milk Beach'
Seba Kaapstad - 'Africa'
Sirc - 'Moments'