Mavis Staples - We Get By

Bandcamp Daily

The iconic vocalist's latest album, produced and written by Ben Harper, weighs sanctified stompers with intimate R&B confessionals.

The Guardian 80

(Anti-)
She may be 80 in July, but Staples is more heartfelt and expressive than ever here, in new songs of struggle and unity

Over half a century after her voice was at the forefront of America’s civil rights era, Mavis Staples is still crying out for Change. The bluesy backbeat opening track of her 12th studio album confronts recent shootings in the US before she concludes, brilliantly, “What good is freedom if we haven’t learned to be free?”

Pitchfork 75

The legendary singer has lost little expressiveness with age, but these songs are about the small, quiet spaces where she can catch her breath and steel her nerves.