In 2011, musician Levon Helm (perhaps best known as a vocalist and drummer for The Band) invited legendary recording artist Mavis Staples to his Woodstock studio to record a series of sessions. They would become some one of Helm’s last, as he passed away due to throat cancer in 2012. From these sessions—which will be released by Anti as an album titled Carry Me Home …
A message of hope rings through Mavis Staples’ soulful new single, “All In It Together.” Produced by and featuring (on backing vocals and guitar) Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, the song “speaks to what we’re going through now—everyone is in this together, whether you like it or not,” Staples explains in a statement. All proceeds go to Chicago non-profit My Block, My Hood, My City, which provides essentials to seniors …
The title track from Mavis Staples’ forthcoming album (out 17 November), “If All I Was Was Black” confronts not only racism the singer faced in her eight decades of performing, but also the violence she witnesses today in racial conflict. Written in collaboration with longtime friend and Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, the track (and the album’s other songs) aims to “bring us all together as …
