Mavis Staples Makes ‘Beautiful’ Music With Star-Studded Cast

86-year-old legend Mavis Staples has rounded up a star-studded cast of collaborators for her new album, Sad and Beautiful World, arriving Nov. 7 from Anti-. The Brad Cook-produced project is led by Staples’ covers of Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed” and Kevin Morby’s “Beautiful Strangers,” the latter of which was written in tribute to victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fl.

“Beautiful Strangers” features contributions from MJ Lenderman, Cook and his brother Phil and longtime Staples bandleader Rick Holmstrom, plus backing vocals from Nathaniel Rateliff and Tré Burt. Also appearing throughout the album are Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Derek Trucks, Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray, Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood, Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam and Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield.

Staples tackles a wide range of material on Sad and Beautiful World, including songs popularized by Curtis Mayfield, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Sparklehorse and Gillian Welch. Another track, “Human Mind,” was written specifically for her by Hozier and Allison Russell. Click here to pre-order.

“Mavis is the transcendent force of love embodied,” says Russell. “There is no higher honor than one of my biggest heroes being moved by words I wrote.” Adds Staples, “I just have to deliver the compassion I feel. I want to share the song the way I feel it.” 

“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,” marvels Morby. “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 [that] her version is better.”