Mavis Staples — one of the most enduring figures in American music — is bringing to the world her latest album “Sad And Beautiful World“ on 7th November 2025 via Anti- Records. Rightly described as a national treasure and multigenerational talent. Miss Mavis stands side by side with us all in the face of dangers she knows all too well, at a time when more and more people have reason to wonder who and what could be lost.
Produced by Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee, Nathaniel Rateliff), “Sad And Beautiful World” spans seven decades of the American songbook and includes reinventions of timeless songs as well as original music. It also includes cameos by artists who have become part of Mavis’ world, many of whom are legends in their own right: Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt, Jeff Tweedy, Derek Trucks, Katie Crutchfield, MJ Lenderman, Justin Vernon and others. Embracing vulnerability, Mavis sings close and deep, drawing the listener into a circle filled with her unforgettable presence.
Cook’s approach was to build every song around that legendary voice. He began with spare skeleton recordings, just drum and piano, and focused on recording her vocals. Then he expanded the song from there, imagining a record in the tradition of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, a group of artists coming together to celebrate community—in this case, one centred on Mavis.
Now 86, Mavis has been performing since the age of eight. After starting out with her father Roebuck “Pops” Staples, sisters Cleotha and Yvonne, and brother Pervis in the Staple Singers more than seventy years ago, she’s the lone surviving member of the group, still carrying her family’s gifts and knowledge with her as a living heritage. She’s been inducted into several halls of fame (blues, rock, and gospel), a Kennedy Centre Honouree, a winner of multiple GRAMMYs (including a Lifetime Achievement Award). She’s collaborated with nearly every major figure of her era(s), from Bob Dylan to Prince, Aretha Franklin, and Willie Nelson — not to mention countless stars from subsequent generations.
“Sad And Beautiful World” shows that love is a choice and a force all its own. The album is a litany of prayer, of Mavis breathing life into these songs. “I just have to deliver the compassion I feel,” she says. “I want to share the song the way I feel it.” You can pre-save / pre-order “Sad And Beautiful World” using this link.
The first single from the album is her rendition of Kevin Morby’s ‘Beautiful Strangers’, where she reminds those in danger: “If you ever hear the gunshot… think of mother / I am a rock.”
“It isn’t easy to put into words what it feels like having one of the best, most important vocalists and cultural figures of both the 20th and 21st century sing one of my songs,” explained Morby on the impact of Mavis recording his song. “But hearing Mavis sing ‘Beautiful Strangers’ is hands down the greatest moment and highest honour of my career. Far beyond any kind of accolade or acclaim — having one of my biggest heroes sing something I wrote is the most validating and flattering thing that could ever happen to me as a songwriter and person. Thank you, Mavis. Mavis also wields that extremely rare power to take a song somebody else wrote and make it entirely her own. As the person who penned ‘Beautiful Strangers’, I feel I have every right to say: her version is better.”
