Mavis Staples Unveils New Album ‘Sad and Beautiful World’ with Cover of Kevin Morby’s “Beautiful Strangers”
Mavis Staples, photo by Elizabeth De La Piedra
Mavis Staples has announced her 15th solo studio album, Sad and Beautiful World. Set to release on Nov. 7 via Anti-, the rhythm and blues and gospel legend’s follow-up to 2019’s We Get By once again sets her peerless talents on redressing the problems of the present, this time through a collection of covers and originals that stretch seven decades into the past. Staples teased her announcement in June with a soul-stirring treatment of Frank Ocean’s “Godspeed,” and today formally introduced the project with a new take on Kevin Morby’s “Beautiful Strangers.”
Sad and Beautiful World comprises ten tracks, with new originals appearing alongside covers of classics by Tom Waits, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Curtis Mayfield, Leonard Cohen, Ocean, Morby and more. In her reinterpretations, Staples wields the power of timeless music to steel her listeners against disillusionment and ignite a fiery faith in change. She finds support in this mission in collaborators like Derek Trucks, Buddy Guy, Justin Vernon, Bonnie Raitt, Katie Crutchfield, MJ Lenderman and Jeff Tweedy, who collectively reflect the musical community Staples has assembled through decades of carrying the legacy of activist music with passion, warmth and resolve.
“You have to stay hopeful and have faith that things are going to get better,” Staples said in a statement. “I just have to deliver the compassion I feel. I want to share the song the way I feel it.”
Staples’ first new album in six years comes after the 86-year-old singer-songwriter briefly considered retirement in 2023. Once she realized that her vital work was not yet complete, she connected with super-producer Brad Cook, who set her unparalleled talents as a storyteller and vocal powerhouse over a sparse arrangement of piano and percussion before carefully adding layers, as heard on the intimate array of warm strums, brushed snares and cooing harmonies that frame her voice on “Beautiful Strangers.”
“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,” Morby reflected on the cover. “But hearing Mavis sing ‘Beautiful Strangers’ is hands down the greatest moment and highest honor 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,” Morby continued. “As the person who penned ‘Beautiful Strangers,’ I feel I have every right to say; her version is better.”
Sad and Beautiful World is available to pre-order and pre-save now. Listen to “Beautiful Strangers” below, and find tickets and more information on Staples’ newly announced tour dates at mavisstaples.com.
Sad and Beautiful World – Mavis Staples:
1. Chicago
2. Beautiful Strangers
3. Sad and Beautiful World
4. Human Mind
5. Hard Times
6. Godspeed
7. We Got to Have Peace
8. Anthem
9. Satisfied Mind
10. Everybody Needs Love
