Mavis Staples' eight-decade long career is nothing shy of prolific. Staples has seen the ugliest sides of racist America as she grew up traveling around the country with her family on the gospel circuit. Now she has new music that's centered on the current social climate and ongoing racial conflicts that plague our country; a climate that is probably all too familiar to her.
Staples' new album If All I Was Was Black, comes in collaboration with friend and longtime collaborator, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, who wrote the albums 11 songs, three of which were co-written with the soul legend, including the title track. Tweedy and Staples have been collaborating since 2010’s You Are Not Alone, which won a Grammy Award for Best Americana Album.
Listen to the album’s breezy yet poignant title track below.