Mavis Staples – Change (Anti-)
Mavis Staples - Change
Release Date: Out Now
This is one of the most exciting
releases I’ve received in a very, very long time on paper so hitting play was a
real ‘hit and hope’ situation. Legendary vocalist Mavis Staples is releasing
her 12th album in May and the whole thing was written and produced
by one of my all-time favourites, Ben Harper. This first single from the new
collection, ‘Change’, could apply to almost any society in any period of modern
history but it works so perfectly right here, right now. The dirty, muddy
12-bar blues guitar riff lays down a rhythm and melody for Staples to let her
voice stretch out defiantly on top of with only carefully used Gospel backing
vocals and the moments of a rudimentary beat. This is THE Blues and when a song
opens with the line “Gotta change around here, gotta change around here, can’t
go on this way, things gotta change around here” then you know this is no love
song. Get your ears around this one, listen to the message and then save your
pennies up for May when ‘We Get By’ comes out as I think it’s going to be one
of the albums of the year.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/mavisstaples/
Live Dates:
29th March – Isleta Resort & Casino,
Albuquerque
13th April – Amplify Decatur Music Festival,
Decatur
14th April – Blues Festival, Baton Rouge
18-21st April – Bluesfest, Byron Bay
23rd April – The Civic, Auckland w/Tami Neilson
2nd May – Jazz & Heritage Festival, New
Orleans
31st May – Ogden Music Festival, Ogden
9th June – Nelsonville Music Festival,
Nelsonville
23rd June - Olympia Theatre, Dublin
25th June – Nalen, Norrmalm
26th June – Glastonbury Festival, Somerset
27th June – Theater Café, Amsterdam
28th June – Open Air Theatre, Antwerpen
2nd July – The Forum, Bath
4th July – Roundhouse, London
6th July – Theatres Romaines De Fourviere, Lyon
16th July – Red Rocks, Morrison w/Norah Jones
17th July – Belly Up Aspen, Aspen
19th July – Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago
31st July – Convention Hall, Cape May
1st August – Filene Center at Wolf Trap, Vienna
w/Lyle Lovett
3rd August – Sweetland Amphitheatre at Boyd Park,
Lagrange
6th September – Mann Center for the Performing
Arts, Philadelphia w/Brandi Carlile
21st September – Fresh Grass Festival, North
Adams
5th October – Shoals Fest, Florence