"What good is freedom/ If we haven’t learned to be free?"
This is just one of the many important questions that living legend Mavis Staples poses on today's featured track and on her 12th studio album, We Get By, out now via Anti- Records. “These songs are delivering such a strong message,” Staples said via a press release. Citing the track "Change" in particular, she added, “We truly need to make a change if we want this world to be better.”
After working with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy on her past few albums, Staples has teamed up with Ben Harper for the latest LP. “I come from a family of Mavis fans,” Harper explained via a press release, “so her music has been woven into the fabric of my life from the very start. When I got the call for this gig, it felt like my entire career, everything I’d ever written, had been pre-production for this.”
The album also commemorates Staples' 80th birthday, with the civil rights icon exclaiming, "I am letting my fans know that I’m over the hill but now I’m going over the mountain.” She adds, “I’m the messenger. That’s my job – it has been for my whole life – and I can’t just give up while the struggle’s still alive. We’ve got more work to do, so I’m going to keep on getting stronger and keep on delivering my message every single day.”
Watch a trailer for We Get By below, and watch Staples and Harper perform today's powerful track via Jimmy Kimmel Live! below that.
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