Mavis Staples Enlists Bon Iver, Nick Cave, Neko Case, M. Ward, More for New Album Livin’ on a High Note

Mavis Staples is following up her Your Good Fortune EP with a new full-length. Livin’ on a High Note is produced by M. Ward and features songs written specifically for Staples by Nick Cave, Justin Vernon, tUnE-yArds, Neko Case, Aloe Blacc, and others. It’s out February 19 via Anti-. Listen to the album track “High Note,” which was written by Valerie June, above.

Staples discussed the new album in a statement, saying:

I’ve been singing my freedom songs and I wanted to stretch out and sing some songs that were new. I told the writers I was looking for some joyful songs. I want to leave something to lift people up; I’m so busy making people cry, not from sadness, but I’m always telling a part of history that brought us down and I’m trying to bring us back up. These songwriters gave me a challenge. They gave me that feeling of, ‘Hey, I can hang! I can still do this!’ There’s a variety, and it makes me feel refreshed and brand new. Just like Benjamin Booker wrote on the opening track, ‘I got friends and I got love around me, I got people, the people who love me.’ I’m living on a high note, I’m above the clouds. I’m just so grateful. I must be the happiest old girl in the world. Yes, indeed.

In other Staples news, the documentary Mavis! will premiere on February 29 on HBO. Find the trailer below.

Staples’ previous two albums were produced by Jeff Tweedy.

Livin’ on a High Note:

01 Take Us Back (Benjamin Booker)
02 Love and Trust (Ben Harper)
03 If It’s a Light (The Head & the Heart)
04 Action (tUnE-yArds)
05 High Note (Valerie June)
06 Don’t Cry (M. Ward)
07 Tomorrow (Aloe Blacc/John Batiste)
08 Dedicated (Justin Vernon/M.Ward)
09 History Now (Neko Case)
10 One Love (Son Little)
11 Jesus Lay Down Beside Me (Nick Cave)
12 MLK Song (M. Ward / Martin Luther King)

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