Mavis Staples: Live Sit-Ins & Collaborations

Next month beloved vocalist Mavis Staples will release her new album, em>Livin’ On A High Note via ANTI- Records. Due February 19, the M. Ward produced record features compositions penned specifically for Staples by Ward as well as an incredible mix of established and up-and-coming songwriters including Neko Case, Justin Vernon, Nick Cave, Ben Harper, tUnE-yArDs, Aloe Blacc, Benjamin Booker Valerie June, John Baptiste and The Head and the Heart. The collaborative nature of the new project is consistent with Staples’ career of working with other talented artists and is the focus of this week’s Sunday Cinema feature.

Since getting her start alongside her father Roebuck “Pops” Staples and sisters Cleotha, Yvonne and brother Purvis Staples in the early 1960s in the acclaimed The Staples Singers, Mavis has established herself as a premier vocalist and highly sought after collaborator across many styles of music. Besides M. Ward, recent solo albums have seen Staples work with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy as producer, and prior to that Ry Cooder and Prince provided production on a number of her records. She’s also shared the live stage with an eclectic and impressive list of artists over her long and successful career, several of which can be viewed below.

First up is a performance covered back in September of last year of Mavis Staples and Joan Osborne on the first night of their co-headlining Solid Soul Tour at The Fillmore in San Francisco. The pair brought out special guest Bonnie Raitt to help end the show with a take on “Will The Circle Be Unbroken?”, watch a fan-shot clip:

The first album Jeff Tweedy produced for Mavis was 2010’s You Are Not Alone. Here’s an acoustic rendition of the title track as well as album cuts “Only The Lord Knows” and “Wrote A Song For Everyone” played by Staples and Tweedy at the Wilco Loft studio space:

Back on December 12, 2011 Staples joined Wilco during the encore of their show at the Civic Opera House in the band’s hometown of Chicago. Mavis lent vocals to her “You’re Not Alone” as well as The Band’s “The Weight” with Nick Lowe also helping out. Below is footage Wilco shared of backstage rehearsal of “The Weight,” watch:

Staples was a guest of Lake Street Drive during their set at the 2014 Newport Folk Festival. Watch fan-shot footage of the collaborative performance of “Bad Self Portraits”:

When Paul McCartney was recognized at the with Kennedy Center Honors in 2010, Mavis and James Taylor, along with Steven Tyler performed a couple of hits by The Beatles in tribute to Sir Paul. Watch them play “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude”:

This clip comes from the short lived late 1980s television program Sunday Night (later re-named Night Music) and features Staples performing with Dr. John. Other musicians in the house band included saxophonist David Sanborn, guitarist Hiram Bullock, drummer Omar Hakim and bassist Marcus Miller. Watch them perform “A House Is Not a Home” and “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying”:

Here’s Mavis and Arcade Fire working through The Staples Sisters’ “This Could Be The Last Time” before segueing into The Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time.” Watch the audience-shot clip from United Center in Chicago on August 27, 2014:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4d9tbwHgUg

Finally, as bonus clip, one day after Livin’ On A High Note is released, on February 20th, HBO will debut a feature length documentary film Mavis! about the Staples. Here’s the trailer: