Mavis Staples has announced a new solo album, Sad and Beautiful World, arriving on November 7. Produced by Brad Cook, it’s a covers album that finds the multigenerational legend taking on songs by Leonard Cohen, Curtis Mayfield, Tom Waits, Mahalia Jackson, Sparklehorse, Gillian Welch, and Eddie Hinton. Collaborators on the LP include MJ Lenderman, Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Bonnie Raitt, Jeff Tweedy, Buddy Guy, Derek Trucks, Iron and Wine’s Sam Beam, the Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood, the Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray, Anjimile, and Kara Jackson.
Today, Staples has shared a gorgeously moving rendition of Kevin Morby’s ‘Beautiful Strangers’, which was originally released in 2016 as a tribute to the victims of the Orlando Pulse shooting. The cover features electric guitars from MJ Lenderman and Staples’ bandleader Rick Holmstrom, Brad Cook on vibraphone, his brother Phil on piano, and Nathaniel Rateliff and Tré Burt on backup vocals.
“It isn’t easy to put into words what it feels like having one of the best, most important vocalists and cultural figures of both the 20th and 21st century sing one of my songs,” Morby shared. “But hearing Mavis sing ‘Beautiful Strangers’ is hands down the greatest moment and highest honor of my career. Far beyond any kind of accolade or acclaim — having one of my biggest heroes sing something I wrote is the most validating and flattering thing that could ever happen to me as a songwriter and person. Thank you, Mavis. Mavis also wields that extremely rare power to take a song somebody else wrote and make it entirely her own. As the person who penned ‘Beautiful Strangers’, I feel I have every right to say: her version is better.”
Back in June, Staples shared her version of Frank Ocean’s ‘Godspeed’, which appears on the new LP.
Sad and Beautiful World Cover Artwork:
Sad and Beautiful World Tracklist:
1. Chicago
2. Beautiful Strangers
3. Sad And Beautiful World
4. Human Mind
5. Hard Times
6. Godspeed
7. We Got To Have Peace
8. Anthem
9. Satisfied Mind
10. Everybody Needs Love
