On June 25th Mavis Staples returns with her latest album, One True Vine. (stream the full release now on NPR or soundcloud). “My son Spencer and I are the only two musicians on it,” Jeff Tweedy explained in Uncut magazine #189. “There’s a song called ‘Jesus Wept’ and a very old Washington Phillips tune called ‘What Are They Doing In Heaven Today’. The album has a lot of ensemble singing, so it’ll have a Staples Singers feel, which still retains a lot of the gospel style.” The Wilco frontman is also the album’s producer, repeating the role he first filled on her last LP, 2010’s You Are Not Alone. Like its predecessor, One True Vine was created at Wilco’s Loft Studio in Chicago. Mavis’ set at WXPN Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live on May 16th featured three songs from the forthcoming album: “I Like The Things About Me,” “Far Celestial Shore” and the title-track (in addition to a cover of The Band’s “The Weight,” her Staples Singers standard “I’ll Take You There” and more). Watch below:
Two songs from the album – a cover of Funkadelic’s “Can You Get to That” and “I Like The Things About Me” – were teased earlier this spring. Now there’s also a video for the latter. Watch Mavis, Jeff and Spencer recording the track at the Loft below:
The most striking aspect of Mavis’ new work is her rapport with Tweedy. As she puts it, Jeff is “a very free spirit…One True Vine just gave me chills. You can’t just jump on his songs. You have to take your time.” Likewise Tweedy explained to rhythms.com, “we just have had a real easy time working together from the first moment we started in the studio on the last record. I don’t know, there’s a real deep bond for some reason that I don’t know if I can explain exactly. It’s great to be around, great to be a part of.”
One True Vine includes a cover of Low’s “Holy Ghost” from – the other album Tweedy produced this year – The Invisible Way; as well as her stab at Funkadelic, Washington Phillips and other artists. New material was written by Jeff (“Jesus Wept”) and Nick Lowe (“Celestial Shore”). Tweedy contrasts the sparse backing this go around to You Are Not Alone as “a different-feeling record… I think it’s going to be very powerful.”
Check out the full tracklist below:
1. Holy Ghost
2. Every Step
3. Can You Get to That
4. Jesus Wept
5. Far Celestial Shores
6. What Are They Doing in Heaven Today
7. Sow Good Seeds
8. I Like the Things About Me
9. Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind on Jesus)
10. One True Vine
In April Mavis highlighted The White House’s “Memphis Soul” night alongside Justin Timberlake, Eddie Floyd, Queen Latifah, Alabama Shakes, Cyndi Lauper, Ben Harper with Charlie Musselwhite and the night’s bandleader, Booker T. Jones. Watch here.
Staples told Billboard she might follow One True Vine with an album of Bob Dylan covers. Until then, here she is taking on Dylan’s former backing band – aka The Band – in rehearsal with Wilco and Nick Lowe backstage at Chicago’s Civic Opera House in December 2011:
The Future Heart 
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