Hermione Hoby 

Mavis Staples: One True Vine – review

Wilco's Jeff Tweedy helps out the gospel veteran again, with uplifting results, writes Hermione Hoby
  
  


The 73-year-old gospel great, a woman who effectively soundtracked the civil rights movement with her family band the Staple Singers, first teamed up with fellow Chicagoan Jeff Tweedy, of Wilco, three years ago for You Are Not Alone. This time, her voice is quietly mighty - heavy with gravity, but glowing with warmth – and Tweedy, who plays every instrument here but drums, matches it with nuance and simplicity. It means the record does what gospel should – lift you up. Being downright godless is no impediment to feeling, for example, that the title track is something sublime.

 

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