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- Summary: The covers album from Mavis Staples was produced by Brad Cook and features contributions by such artists as Katie Crutchfield, Buddy Guy, MJ Lenderman, Bonnie Raitt, Derek Trucks, Jeff Tweedy, and Justin Vernon.
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- Record Label: Anti
- Genre(s): R&B, Soul
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
- Positive: 10 out of 10
- Mixed: 0 out of 10
- Negative: 0 out of 10
- MojoNov 4, 2025Her reading of Anthem makes Leonard Cohen’s hymn to resilience and resistance feel like a bespoke gift from another writer who knew about life in the shadows. .... It’s as that distant flickering light, illuminating the path to better times, that Staples excels. [Dec 2025, p.76]
- UncutNov 4, 2025Cook puts Staples right at the front of the mix, accentuating her voice to the point where it's like she's whispering in the listener's ear. [Dec 2025, p.37]
- Nov 12, 2025One needn’t be familiar with her storied biography to appreciate the richness of her vocals. The Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award winner continues to inspire with her performances. If anything, she’s only getting better with age—although she’s always been one of our best artists.
- Nov 4, 2025Staples transforms disparate material across genres and decades — some well known standards, some semi-obscure originals — into her most powerful statement as a solo artist in more than a decade.
- Nov 4, 2025Cook does a great job of keeping the focus on Mavis. None of the guest spots are intrusive. In fact, it’s only the slide guitar parts from Bonnie Raitt or Derek Trucks that are attention-getting. The overall effect is that of Mavis, a living saint and the voice of empathy, leading the hushed gathering in prayer, best evidenced in her take on Curtis Mayfield’s “We Got To Have Peace.”
- Nov 7, 2025It's no surprise that Staples puts as much of herself into the rest of the songs. The selections span over 60 years, and in most cases suit Staples as much as those who first recorded them.
- Nov 6, 2025It's a bravura performance from all concerned; for all the album's unquestionable strengths, you may wish for a drop more of the same raw sawdust-kicking passion and bite during some of the more restrained proceedings that follow.
