MAVIS STAPLES is 86. She once turned down a marriage proposal from Bob Dylan. She tried to retire, but felt that she had more to give. Her latest album, Sad and Beautiful World (ANTI-records), covers seven decades, almost as long as her career (she began performing at eight).
She makes these songs her prayers, to shine light in dark times. She started with her father (Roebuck “Pops” Staples), two sisters (Cleotha, Yvonne), her brother (Pervis). She is now the lone surviving member. In “Human Mind”, written by Hozier and Allison Russell, she acknowledges: “I am the last, daddy,” a line that made her cry. She has moral authority from growing up in the Jim Crow era as a Black female singer, marching from Selma to Montgomery with Martin Luther King, effectively creating the soundtrack for US civil rights. She has consistently stood up for people who have been trodden down.
Her solo career experienced a renaissance around 2007. That set the template for future recordings: a trusted partner — Ry Cooder, Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Ben Harper — in touch with the cultural milieu, pulling together songs and musicians, whether recent or traditional, reinventions or new material. The approach reminded me of Johnny Cash’s American Recordings with Rick Rubin. Cash took Rubin’s advice about which songs and artists to engage with, ranging from Nine Inch Nails (“Hurt”) through to Depeche Mode (“Personal Jesus”). It led to some of the best performances of his career.
Here Staples covers songs by Gillian Welch (“Hard Times”), Frank Ocean (“Godspeed”), Leonard Cohen (“Anthem”), Mark Linkous (the title track), Tom Waits/Kathleen Brennan (“Chicago”), and Curtis Mayfield (“We Got to Have Peace”). They are not classic gospel songs, but Staples imbues them with a realistic faith.
In “Chicago”, she recalls the exodus from the South for her father: “What we need, the Lord will give us / All we want, we carry with us.” With “Beautiful Strangers”, she remembers Freddie Gray (who died as a result of injuries sustained in a police wagon in 2016): “Can’t stand the coppers, up in their choppers / flying overhead, 49 dead”. “Godspeed” acknowledges the climb and the setbacks: “There will be mountains you won’t move / I’ll always be there for you.”
The respect in which Staples is held was shown at the 2025 Newport Folk Festival when the founders of Public Enemy, Chuck D and Flavor Flav, dropped to their knees to bow down before her. She made clear that it was unnecessary, but it demonstrated the serious debt owed — and the inspiration shared — by young Black artistes.
The list of contributors is exceptional. Younger artistes, such as MJ Lenderman, Katie Crutchfield, and Kevin Morby, work alongside experienced hands, including Buddy Guy, Amy Ray (Indigo Girls), Bonnie Raitt, and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver). Many are contacts of the producer, Brad Cook, who somehow manages to find the best context for each one. They are happy to stay in the background. Cook structures song arrangements around that voice.
Staples is not making music any more. She’s making history.