Posts Tagged Mavis Staples
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December 5, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
Mavis Staples: If All I Was Was Black
Mavis Staples If All I Was Was Black Anti/Epitaph What a decade it’s been for Mavis Staples – riding on a high note ever since 2007’s We’ll Never Turn Back with a constant victory-lap of touring and this now deep collaboration with Jeff Tweedy’s Wilco. It hasn’t all been amazing, I couldn’t get too excited […]Archive
July 12, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
V/A: Mavis Staples – I’ll Take You There: An All-Star Concert Celebration
Various Artists: Mavis Staples – I’ll Take You There: An All-Star Concert Celebration Blackbird Production Partners LLC A Mavis Staples concert is a joyous experience – a celebration, she’s there at church and she, erm, takes you there…so on this tribute we have to wait for the last half hour for Mavis; still regal and […]Archive
April 27, 2016 by Simon Sweetman
Mavis Staples: Livin’ On A High Note
Mavis Staples Livin’ On A High Note Anti/Epitaph Here’s the latest from Mavis Staples, and a producer-switch, following two charming-enough but sombre Jeff Tweedy-helmed full lengthers. Now we have M. Ward making sure things are sunny and hopeful – and the songwriting credits include Nick Cave, Neko Case and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon among others. […]Archive
November 3, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Tweedy: One NZ Show (March, 2016)
Tweedy is the father/son duo of Jeff Tweedy and Spencer Tweedy. Jeff we know from Wilco – Spencer, from being Jeff’s son. I wasn’t at all impressed with their debut album as a duo but I’m fully into the idea of seeing them live – because the show is promising a mix of the material […]Archive
October 28, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Radio Nowhere by Michael Ross: # 7 – Cities Where Stuff Happened
Something different today, before regular Radio Nowhere service finally resumes… People travel for a lot of fairly obvious reasons – to eat, drink, see the sights, visit friends, and so on. Me? I mainly travel so I’ll have a good excuse for repeatedly missing blog deadlines, and also because there’s a part of me that’s […]Archive
August 30, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Mavis Staples: Your Good Fortune (ep)
Mavis Staples Your Good Fortune (ep) Anti/Epitaph Mavis Staples is a survivor and striving on – she doesn’t ever sound like some geriatric party-trick, she sounds like a vital artist, pushing herself on, compelled to work. That was largely the tone of the recent, celebratory documentary. That documentary’s one big failing was in not acknowledging […]Archive
August 7, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Mavis!: Film
Mavis! Director: Jessica Edwards Film First Co./Home Box Office (HBO) It pretty hard to fault Mavis! – the feature-length doco covering the life of living legend Mavis Staples. I’ve seen Staples perform three times in recent years, highlights in every show and I’ve been charmed by her as an interview subject. She’s funny, wise – […]Archive
July 28, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
The Best Guitarist in The World: # 2 – Ry Cooder
You can’t just call him a guitarist. He plays so many instruments. He’s written a book of short stories. He produces, finds and nurtures talent, is something of an ethnomusicologist, he’s created evocative film scores, is a gifted singer/songwriter and yet through all of that he is simply one of the very best guitarists you […]Archive
June 2, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Stubs: # 83 – The Blind Boys of Alabama, Aaron Neville & Mavis Staples, Wellington, 2011
I’m conscious of the fact that I go to a lot of shows – and not ever one is a) my favourite or b) even, frankly, one I wanted to see. So I try to be nice when talking to others after. Though I’ve had a few friends disappointed in me when I tell them […]Archive
March 9, 2015 by Simon Sweetman
Pops Staples: Don’t Lose This
Pops Staples Don’t Lose This Anti Those touched-up posthumous albums…usually alarm bells ring, the hairs on the back of necks bristle, eyebrows twitch, toes can curl, buttocks sometimes clench – but no such issues here with Pops Staples (belated final ‘solo’ album) Don’t Lose This. Pops was recording this – in ill-health – in the […]Archive
August 20, 2014 by Simon Sweetman