As she releases a new album, the soul and gospel legend answers your questions on Stax Records, duetting with David Byrne and the fight for civil rightsCan you speak a bit about the array of songs and artists on your new record? What kind of message and lyrics do you want to sing at this point in your life? steve_bayley
The first song I got for the album was Human Mind, written by Hozier and Allison Russell, and that really set the tone for the entire record. It starts: “I deal in love baby, in good words from above … and I ain’t giving up.” I cried when I was trying to sing it for the first time. Then the next song was Beautiful Strangers by Kevin Morby. All the songs are part of me and what I’ve been singing about my whole life. There’s some about war, fighting, love … some about hard times, like the farmer whose losing his farm. Things that are going on in the world today, so Sad and Beautiful World is the perfect title.I loved the documentary Summer of Soul. What was it like to play there [the 1969 Harlem Cultural festival] and sing alongside Mahalia Jackson? Same question for Wattstax [the 1973 Stax Records benefit concert in Watts, LA, to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the 1965 riots]. snak3span Continue reading...
Thursday 30 October 2025
.theguardian - 9 hours ago
‘It’s dark in the US right now. But I turn on a light, you know?’: Mavis Staples on Prince, Martin Luther King and her 75-year singing career
Latest News
They were 30 runs short : Jemimah Rodrigues following India s historic run chase against Australia in Women s CWC semi-final
- newzealandnews Keir Starmer often strident in opposition struggles to maintain probity in government
- .theguardian ‘You got some pants on, officer?’: video from Detroit virtual court hearing goes viral
- .theguardian The Guardian view on deprived neighbourhoods: incomes as well as places need a boost | Editorial
- .theguardian The Guardian view on Trump and China: stepping back from the brink, but not solving problems | Editorial
- .theguardian Four feet higher and rising: Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia becomes world’s tallest church
- .theguardian Walton: Cello Concerto, Symphony No 1, Scapino album review – positively snaps, crackles and pops
- .theguardian Want to know what’s really up with Britain? Take a look at our no-longer-chocolatey biscuits | Zoe Williams
- .theguardian A former Tory councillor tried to ban my novel Pigeon English. Why should pupils suffer because of him?
- .theguardian Rung chuyển Trung Nam Hải: ‘Hồng hậu đại’ tố Vương Tiểu Hồng! Vụ Vu Mông Lung, người chết không ít! Điện thoại không sim, Vu nhận lệnh qua WeChat!
- dkn ‘It’s dark in the US right now. But I turn on a light, you know?’: Mavis Staples on Prince, Martin Luther King and her 75-year singing career
- .theguardian Wood, Ferdinands, Kandamby and Wijetunge to work with SL s men s team tour-by-tour, rotational basis
- newzealandnews Lebanese president orders army to confront Israeli soldiers after municipal worker killed in raid
- .theguardian Doctor Who lives on! But who will be the new Time Lord – and is it goodbye to Russell T Davies?
- .theguardian No 10 refuses to say it has seen evidence to show Reeves did not break ministerial code
- .theguardian How do I break up with a kind and generous man who leaves me feeling cold and irritated? | Leading questions
- .theguardian ‘Tom Cruise was not happy’: Colin Farrell was so drunk on Minority Report he needed 46 takes for a single line
- .theguardian Warming whites? Break away from the ice bucket this winter | Hannah Crosbie on drinks
- .theguardian The luxury effect: why you’ll find more wildlife in wealthy areas – and what it means for your health
- .theguardian ‘We are both freedom fighters’: Africa exhibition at war-damaged Kyiv gallery strikes a chord
- .theguardian ‘She called me a silly boy! Lovely lady!’ Your most beloved memories of Prunella Scales
- .theguardian German dentists hold memorial recognising sadistic practices of profession under Nazis
- .theguardian A single match cost me thousands of dollars at 2026’s World Cup of the 1% | Leander Schaerlaeckens
- .theguardian Geert Wilders faces shutout as centrists hail huge gains in knife-edge Dutch election
- .theguardian This isn’t a real ceasefire in Gaza – it’s a holding pattern before war returns | Sanam Vakil
- .theguardian Is it OK to talk at the cinema? How about if it’s just during the trailers? | Polly Hudson
- .theguardian What does ‘six-seven’ mean? Nothing. But it’s still loaded with meaning | Matt Cantor
- .theguardian Russian army chiefs torturing and executing soldiers who refuse to fight in Ukraine, report says
- .theguardian When the rains don’t come: how drought and endless dry seasons are changing life in Puntland – in pictures
- .theguardian Halloween is no ungodly American import – just ask the medieval monks and nuns who marketed it | Michael Carter
- .theguardian Wife of British journalist ‘abducted by ICE’ speaks out: ‘We’re being kept in the dark’
- .theguardian Arts organisations still in ‘funding limbo’ after crash of Arts Council England online portal
- .theguardian
‘Dangerously outdated’: high court overturns ruling implying domestic violence would not affect children
- .theguardianJimmy Carr’s Am I the A**hole? review – the idea for this comedy panel show is one of TV’s laziest
- .theguardian‘It sounds like witchcraft’: can light therapy really give you better skin, cleaner teeth, stronger joints?
- .theguardian‘The Rushmore story is hard to tell’: how an Indigenous park leader revealed the monument’s dark side
- .theguardianAt least 174 racehorses died from racing or training injuries in past 12 months in Australia, report finds
- .theguardianUK reportedly faces more than £20bn hit from steeper productivity downgrade, fuelling tax rise speculation – business live
- .theguardian‘We want people to get lost!’ Princeton’s new museum survives scandal to deliver a mazey art ambush
- .theguardianYes, Keir Starmer is Britain’s most unpopular PM ever. That could liberate him | Polly Toynbee
- .theguardianPhysical: Asia review – some of these super-strong contestants look like barrels wrapped in muscles and hair
- .theguardian‘A good moment in time for us’: Firefox head on AI browsers and what’s next for the web
- .theguardian‘Under the stuff I can’t throw out is the stuff my parents couldn’t throw out’: novelist Anne Enright on the agony of clearing her family home
- .theguardian
42 triệu người lo lắng. TT Trump: Sẽ giải quyết khủng hoảng tem phiếu thực phẩm trước tháng tới
- dkn ‘One contestant makes wool vulvas!’ Tom Daley on his knockout knitting show – and arguing with Traitors producers
- .theguardian The truth behind the disappearance of Charlene Downes: ‘She was reduced to this salacious, shocking story’
- .theguardian Diễn đàn của Quỹ Tưởng niệm Nạn nhân Chủ nghĩa Cộng sản: Pháp Luân Công bị ĐCSTQ bức hại tàn khốc nhất
- dkn Trước thềm hội nghị Trump-Tập, Trung Quốc mua đậu nành Mỹ. Học giả kêu gọi cảnh giác thủ đoạn của ĐCSTQ
- dkn Tributes pour in for #39;fantastic mum #39; who died walking dog in Port Glasgow crash
- newzealandnews Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to hold meeting in South Korea amid hopes for trade deal – live updates
- .theguardian Teenage cricketer in Australia dies after being hit with cricket ball in Melbourne’s east
- .theguardian Only full abolition of two-child benefit cap will substantially cut poverty, thinktank says
- .theguardian Nothing used to be off-limits when talking about sex. Now I’m in a long-term relationship, why is it taboo? | Natasha Sholl
- .theguardian Microsoft reports strong earnings even as Azure outage brings down Xbox and investor pages
- .theguardian Australian man living in Washington DC pleads guilty to selling trade secrets to Russian broker
- .theguardian Vietnamese arrivals in UK by irregular means will be fast-tracked for deportation, says No 10
- .theguardian Tributes paid after death of Mary McGee, who helped end Ireland’s ban on contraception
- .theguardian ‘We’ve got to look at the future’: Edwards to turn to next generation after World Cup exit
- .theguardian Arsenal v Brighton, Swansea v Manchester City and more: Carabao Cup clockwatch – live
- .theguardian ‘This was a slaughter, not an operation’: the favela reeling from Rio’s deadliest police raid
- .theguardian The Guardian view on hospices: investment in end-of-life care is a national priority | Editorial
- .theguardian God has sent me here to do something good... : Shafali ahead of ICC Women s WC semis against Australia
- newzealandnews The Guardian view on Argentina’s election: one step closer to becoming a Trumpian client state | Ediorial
- .theguardian I won’t apologise for The Lost King – Leicester University’s treatment of Philippa Langley is a profound injustice
- .theguardian Football Daily | Shamrock Rovers’ long, slow stumble towards League of Ireland title glory
- .theguardian Trump is often angry but rarely hurt – yet Canada has managed to pull it off | Emma Brockes
- .theguardian Julius Eastman: A Power Greater Than review – Davóne Tines celebrates the maverick musician
- .theguardian Akram Khan Company: Thikra – Night of Remembering review – forget the meaning, feel the colour and emotion
- .theguardian Pro-Palestinian students threaten to sue US university amid antisemitism definition controversy
- .theguardian Sources