This week’s PBS Feature Album is Sad And Beautiful World, the latest solo album from a national treasure Mavis Staples.
One of the most enduring figures in American music, the multigenerational talent Mavis stands beside us in the face of danger, at a time when more and more people have reason to wonder who and what could be lost.
Produced by Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee, Nathaniel Rateliff), Sad And Beautiful World spans seven decades of the American songbook - a range nearly as vast as Mavis’ career - and includes reinventions of timeless songs as well as original music. It also includes cameos by artists who have become part of Mavis’ world, many of whom are legends in their own right: Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt, Jeff Tweedy, Derek Trucks, Katie Crutchfield, MJ Lenderman, Justin Vernon and others shine a light on her while Mavis does what only she can do. Embracing vulnerability, she sings close and deep here, drawing the listener into a circle filled with her unforgettable presence.
Now 86, Mavis has been performing since the age of eight. After starting out with her father Roebuck “Pops” Staples, sisters Cleotha and Yvonne, and brother Pervis in the Staple Singers more than seventy years ago, she’s the lone surviving member of the group, still carrying her family’s gifts and knowledge with her as a living heritage.
Inducted into several halls of fame (blues, rock, and gospel), a Kennedy Center Honouree, a winner of multiple GRAMMYs (including a Lifetime Achievement Award), Mavis is our musical history. She’s collaborated with nearly every major figure of her era(s), from Bob Dylan to Prince, Aretha Franklin, and Willie Nelson — not to mention countless stars from subsequent generations.
Sad And Beautiful World shows that love is a choice and a force all its own. The album is a litany of prayer, of Mavis breathing life into these songs.
Tune in all this week to hear tracks from Sad And Beautiful World. PBS Members have the chance to win a vinyl copy of the album - simply email your name and membership number to before midnight Sunday November 9.
Not a PBS Member? Join now!
TOP TRACKS WE'RE LOVING THIS WEEK
Will Larsen - 'Campbells Arcade'
Fin Healy - '------>'
Fenn Wilson & The Weather - 'Stranger'
Stella Donnelly - 'Year of Trouble'
Ella Ion - 'Looking For Nothing'
Dumbhead - 'Want Light!'
SML - 'Taking out the Trash'
Ebi Nori and The Phantom Fingers - 'Sanctify'
Romanie - 'Uh Oh'
Full Tone Generator - 'Lumthock'
