After 38 minutes of stirring, spiritual music, Mavis Staples’ Sad and Beautiful World ends with a chuckle—that deep, joyful laugh reflecting 86 years of a life lived righteously. 

It’s like a hidden track, coming 20 seconds after Staples’ uplifting version of Eddie Hinton’s “Everybody Needs Love” fades away. Staples’ laughter ends the album on a perfect note; though the song would’ve been fine, too. 

Sad and Beautiful World begins 38 minutes earlier with Staples’ powerful take on Tom Waits’ “Chicago,” on which Buddy Guy and Derek Trucks tangle and Staples sings with grit and gusto. 

All but one of the 10 tracks is a cover, but that doesn’t make Sad and Beautiful World, with additional cameos from Bonnie Raitt, Jeff Tweedy, Justin Vernon and others, any less a Mavis Staples album. By the time she’s finished with Sparklehorse’s gentle title track, Curtis Mayfield urgent “We Got to Have Peace,” Kevin Morby’s heart-wrenching “Beautiful Strangers,” they’re all Mavis Staples songs. 

“Think of mother/I am a rock,” Staples sings on the latter. And though she didn’t write these words, she owns them now.