Mavis Staples – If All I Was Was Black (2017)

If All I Was Was Black is the thirteenth studio album by American R&B, soul and gospel singer Mavis Staples. It was released on November 17, 2017, by ANTI- Records. The album was written and produced by Jeff Tweedy.

The album’s announced on September 11, 2017. The album consists of 11 songs, all of which were written by Jeff Tweedy. Staples said she hoped the album will “bring us all together as a people. That’s what I hope to do. You can’t stop me. You can’t break me. I’m too loving. These songs are going to change the world.” Tweedy described the message of the album, saying, “I’ve always thought of art as a political statement in and of itself—that it was enough to be on the side of creation and not destruction. But there is something that feels complicit at this moment in time about not facing what is happening in this country head on.”

The lead single, “If All I Was Was Black”, was released on September 11, 2017, along with the album’s pre-order. “Little Bit” was released as the second single from the album on October 12, 2017. The third single, “Build a Bridge”, was released on November 7, 2017. “Ain’t No Doubt About It” was released as the fourth and final single on November 14, 2017. A music video for “If All I Was Was Black” was released on February 12, 2018.

The year 2017 has been full of political unrest and growing racial division in the United States, but for good or ill, Mavis Staples has seen days like these before. As a teenager, she was a member of the Staple Singers, who in their days as a gospel group were close friends and allies with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as the struggle for civil rights was at its peak. They also experienced more than their share of violence and hostility as an African-American family band touring in the Deep South in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Mavis Staples was too strong to let hatred and narrow-mindedness break her when she was a twenty-something, and at the age of 78, she still isn’t about to back down. Released in 2017, If All I Was Was Black finds Staples once again collaborating with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, who produced the sessions and wrote the bulk of the songs, and while the lyrics tend not to focus on the specifics of the chaos that’s marked the time it was made, it’s definitely an album intended to speak to troubled times.

As a woman of deep spiritual beliefs, Staples is the ideal vehicle for these songs, which often deal with hatred, inequality, and indifference while making clear that love and understanding have the capacity to heal America’s wounded spirit. Staples’ vocal style here is informed by equal parts vintage gospel and classic soul, and together they fill these messages with strength, compassion, and a much-needed sense of hope. The lyrics sometimes reflect Tweedy’s usual tropes as a writer, but Staples gives them a musical and emotional force that sets them apart.

Her voice is in splendid shape for a septuagenarian, still supple and able to navigate the twists of the melodies while sailing confidently over the arrangements that fuse indie rock with the feel of ’70s soul. And if this set of songs is a bit short on specific answers to our problems, well, “We Shall Overcome” never explained how that would happen either. What’s most special about If All I Was Was Black is the way Staples and her collaborators confront the challenges of a distraught world while filling the listener with the belief that all is not lost, that we can get past bad times and build a better future if we try. Quite simply, this is an album America needs. (by Mark Deming)

Personnel:
Stephen Hodges (drums, percussion)
Rick Holmstrom (guitar)
Glenn Kotche (percussion)
Scott Ligon (keyboards, clavinet, guitar)
Mavis Staples (vocals)
Jeff Tweedy (guitar, bass, percussion, vocals)
Spencer Tweedy (drums, percussion)
Jeff Turnes (bass)
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background vocals:
Donny Gerrard – Kelly Hogan – Akenya

Tracklist:
01. Little Bit (Tweedy) 3.51
02. If All I Was Was Black (Tweedy/Staples 3.55
03. Who Told You That (Tweedy) 2:48
04. Ain’t No Doubt About It (featuring Jeff Tweedy) Tweedy 3:18
05. Peaceful Dream (Tweedy) 3.20
06. No Time For Crying (Tweedy/Staples) 4.36
07. Build A Bridge (Tweedy) 3.37
08. We Go High (Tweedy/Staples) 3.26
09. Try Harder (Tweedy) 3.51
10. All Over Again (Tweedy) 1.54

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Mavis Staples – Same (1969)

Born in 1939 in Chicago, Mavis Staples achieved wide recognition as lead singer for the Staple Singers. She first recorded solo for Stax subsidiary Volt in 1969. Subsequent efforts included a Curtis Mayfield-produced soundtrack on Curtom, a disappointing nod to disco for Warner in 1979, a misguided stab at electropop with Holland-Dozier-Holland in 1984, and an uneven album for Paisley Park. Staples has a rich contralto voice that has neither the range of Aretha Franklin nor the power of Patti LaBelle. Her otherworldly power comes instead from a masterful command of phrasing and a deep-seated sensuality expressed through timbre manipulation. Both the Staple Singers and Mavis found fresh audiences stemming from their participation on the CD Rhythm Country and Blues, and in 1996 she issued Spirituals & Gospel: Dedicated to Mahalia Jackson. Her next recording project didn’t land for another eight years, although Have a Little Faith on Alligator became her highest-profile release in years.

We’ll Never Turn Back appeared three years later in 2007. Staples teamed up with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy as producer for 2010’s You Are Not Alone, which won the 2011 Grammy Award in the category of Best Americana Album. One True Vine, released in 2013, was also produced by Tweedy and featured a mix of old and new songs written by the likes of George Clinton, Alan Sparhawk (Low), and Nick Lowe. Staples and Tweedy completed the final studio sessions of Pops Staples, released in 2015 as Don’t Lose This. Later that year, she released Your Good Fortune, a four-track EP made with Anti- labelmate Son Little. For Livin’ on a High Note, her 2016 release, she worked with M. Ward as producer, while Nick Cave, Neko Case, and Bon Iver were among its songwriters. Shortly after its release, HBO premiered Mavis!, a documentary. The following year, she released another album on Anti-, If All I Was Was Black, once again produced and primarily composed by Jeff Tweedy. (by Rob Bowman)

A powerhouse soul belter and wailer, Mavis Staples doesn’t have to play second fiddle to anyone, including Aretha Franklin, when it comes to pure, house-rocking, testifying authority. She’s seldom gotten a complete album of quality material, but on this 1969 debut, she took half-baked material and made it memorable. (by Ron Wynn)

Personnel:
Barry Beckett (keyboards)
Roger Hawkins (drums)
Isaac Hayes (organ)
Edward Hinton (guitar)
Mavis Staples (vocals)
Marvell Thomas (piano)
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James Alexander (bass on 02. + 03.)
Donald “Duck” Dunn (bass on 05. – 11.)
Willie Hall (drums on 02. + 03.)
David Hood (bass on 05. – 11.)
Al Jackson, Jr. (drums on 05. – 11.)
Steve Cropper (guitar on 05. – 11.)

 

Tracklist:
01. Until I Met You (Hutchison) 2.48
02. Sweet Things You Do (Isbell/Jones/Floyd) 2.39
03. The Choking Kind (Howard) 3.25
04. You’re Driving Me (To The Arms Of A Stranger) (Briggs) 3.23
05. A House Is Not A Home (Bacharach/David) 4.27
06. Security (Redding) 2.48
07. Son Of A Preacher Man (Hurley/Wilkins) 2.16
08. Pick Up The Pieces (Davies/Briggs/Barker) 3.05
09. Chained (Wilson) 2.50
10. Good To Me (Green/Redding) 3.15
11. You Send Me (Cook) 2.55

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Mavis Staples at the legendary Wattstax concert, which was held at the Los Angeles Coliseum on the 20th of August 1972.

Joan Baez & Friends – Beacon Theatre, New York (2016)

Joan Baez is still the mother of us all. At the Beacon Theater, where she celebrated her 75th birthday on Wednesday evening with an all-star concert of duets, she was a quietly magnetic woman in charge. Radiating her characteristic maternal strength and easygoing humor, she projected the welcoming empathy of someone you can turn to in times of trouble. She looked terrific: trim and fit, with short silver hair and a wonderfully goofy smile.

That strength is embedded in a voice that has shrunk in range and power but conveys an embracing reassurance and solidity. Her upper register is all but gone, but her middle range, where she remained comfortably settled for most of the evening, was as warmly expressive as ever.

It wasn’t actually the birthday of this great folk-pop singer, who was born on Jan. 9, 1941. But why quibble? The concert, in which she sang with guests including Paul Simon, Judy Collins, Mavis Staples and Jackson Browne, was taped for the PBS series “Great Performances” to be broadcast in June.

with David Crosby

For the live audience, the concert presented technical difficulties. Except for Ms. Baez, the singers were under-rehearsed and had trouble reading lyrics on a teleprompter at the back of the orchestra. The sound in this unusually quiet concert was passable at best. Too many of the duets were so glaringly out of tune that they will have to be redone or adjusted before the broadcast. A particularly embarrassing casualty was David Crosby, who was so confused he seemed barely present during his chaotic duet with Ms. Baez on the Beatles’ “Blackbird.”

The technical lapses suggested a depressing possibility: that as much as they’d like to continue, many folk singers (not Ms. Baez) can’t go on forever without losing vocal power, stamina or spirit. The younger guests — the Irish folk singer Damien Rice, the Chilean singer Nano Stern — gave the show a shot of adrenaline and passion it desperately needed.

with Damien Rice

The all-acoustic concert began with strong, steady performances by Ms. Baez, accompanying herself on guitar, of Steve Earle’s “God Is God” and the great Phil Ochs song “There but for Fortune.” The parade of guests began with David Bromberg and continued with Mr. Crosby, Mr. Rice, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Emmylou Harris, who recalled that while growing up she wanted to be Ms. Baez.

Mr. Browne, playing the piano, sang his prophetic ’70s anthem “Before the Deluge” with Ms. Baez, who glumly observed that “as we head into the abyss” this expression of apocalyptic foreboding is even more relevant today than when it was written. A weary sense of impending doom was a persistent undercurrent throughout a concert that tried and mostly failed to conjure a ’60s-style inspirational fervor. Ms. Staples, 76, came close in her duets with Ms. Baez of “Oh, Freedom” and “Turn Me Around.”

with Paul Simon

Ms. Baez’s duets with Richard Thompson on “House of the Rising Sun,” arranged as a waltz, and his original song “She Never Could Resist a Winding Road,” were stronger. Late in the evening, Mr. Simon sang a low-keyed rendition of “The Boxer” with Ms. Baez. The concert’s final number was her solo rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young,” a trite song that mocks baby-boomer narcissism.

The appearance of Mr. Stern lent the concert its only moment of genuine excitement. That 30-year-old Chilean singer and guitarist infused the theme song of the Argentine diva Mercedes Sosa, “Gracias a la Vida,” written by Violeta Parra, with an incandescent verve and spirit. It is the title song of Ms. Baez’s mostly Spanish 1974 album. As he and Ms. Baez sang it, their performance generated the kind of lightning you might have experienced at a joyful ’60s hootenanny when everything seemed possible and hope was in the air.

For a moment, the hush of depression lifted, the generational sense of defeat abated, and the concert came thrillingly alive.

with Nano Stern

To celebrate her 75th birthday, Joan Baez held a concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York; the guests included Jackson Browne, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris, Indigo Girls, Damien Rice, Paul Simon, Mavis Staples, Nano Stern and Richard Thompson.

Joan Baez remains an icon of the Sixties folk revival, one of the movement’s foremost architects and a lifelong champion of vernacular musical tradition. So despite the grand setting and fancy roster of artists, Wednesday’s show was, true to spirit, a folk concert through and through, full of spontaneous sing-alongs and impromptu lyrical ad-libs, and with nary a single electric guitar to be found onstage. (by Rolling Stone)

Recorded live at the Beacon Theatre, New York, NY; January 27, 2016
Very good audio (ripped from HDTV – Arte HD – broadcast).

with Judy Collins

Tracklist:
01. God Is God (Earle) 3.35
02. There But For Fortune (Ochs) 4.34
03. Blackbird (with David Crosby) (Lennon/McCartney)) 3.20
04. Catch the Wind (with Mary Chapin Carpenter) (Leitch) 4.01
05. Hard Times Come Again No More (with Emmylou Harris) (Foster) 5.30
06. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Traditional) 3.50
07. Oh, Freedom (with Mavis Staples) (Traditional) 2.46
08. Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around (with Mavis Staples) (Traditional) 3.39
09. The Water Is Wide (with The Indigo Girls and Mary Chapin Carpenter) (Traditional) 4.54
10. She Moved Through The Fair (with Damien Rice) (Traditional) 5.41
11. She Never Could Resist A Winding Road (with Richard Thompson) (Thompson) 3.39
12. Before The Deluge (with Jackson Browne) (Browne) 6.38
13. Diamonds And Rust (with Judy Collins) (Baez) 5.44
14. Gracias a la vida (with Nano Stern) (Parra) 6.21
15. The Boxer (with Paul Simon and Richard Thompson) 7:26 (Simon) 7.26
16. Forever Young (Dylan) 4.31

with Jackson Brown + Emmylou Harris

 

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