Age has not diminished one bit of Mavis Staples’ passion. On the Ben Harper written and produced We Get By, Staples has delivered her best recording in perhaps fifteen years. It’s the cohesive writing of Harper, his decision to record Mavis with her road band, and terrific engineering that showcases Staples’ classic voice. Oh, and it’s the same message that she’s been carrying since the early days of the Civil Rights movement, just as meaningful today as ever, and delivered just as powerfully as she ever has. “I’m the messenger,” says the 80-year-old Staples. “That’s my job-it have been for my whole life – and I can’t just give up while the struggle’s still alive. We’ve got more work to do, so I’m going to keep on getting stronger and keep on delivering my message every day.”
This is Staples’ twelfth studio album and first with Harper. The arrangements here are spare but potent, allowing Staples to add youthful vigor to a voice instilled with hard-earned wisdom. “When I first started reading the lyrics Ben wrote for me, I said to myself, “My God, he’s saying everything that needs to be said right now. But the songs were also true to my journey and the stories I’ve been singing all my life. There is a spirituality and honesty to Ben’s writing that took me back to church.” If we could quibble, we could argue that many of the themes and songs themselves are similar or that the title track, with Harper singing with Mavis, sounds like Staples’ famous take on The Band’s “The Weight.” Nonetheless, those same “quibbles” could easily be viewed as strengths too. The passion in her messages just builds as the album unfolds. Repetition works – that’s how rallying cries are built. Harper did his homework to bring out the best in her.
Harper witnessed so many of Staples’ shows that he soon came to realize that the stage was her home and why mess with a band’s specific chemistry when you can bring it alive in the studio. Hence, stellar guitarist Rick Holstrom, bassist Jeff Turmes, drummer Stephen Hodges, and vocalist Donny Gerrard are all aboard. And, yes, they recorded live in the studio. Harper says, “With Mavis, sometimes the most important thing you can do is press record and just get the hell out of the way.”
We are stirred immediately with the urgent cry in the opening “Change” –“Say it loud say it clear/Gotta change around here.” The key to Staples’ messaging though, is not anger, but rather a communal joy in coming together to unite in a rallying spirit. She looks to the future fearlessly in “Anytime” and rouses our spirits again in “Brothers and Sisters,” a clear call to action against injustice. “Stronger” proclaims that the strongest power in the world is our love for one another. As one listens, it’s amazing that she still has this resilient, optimistic spirit, after all she’s witnessed, and the lack of progress made more apparent in our current political environment.
The spirit of the Staples Singers also imbues this recording more so than any of her relatively recent ones. You can practically hear Pops Staples hovering over the mournful “Heavy On My Mind,” identifying the wounds that never heal or “Never Needed Anyone” which also oozes with regret. Staples never stays in this kind of mode too long before her hopeful stance emerges like it does in “One More Change to Make.” In fact, her life’s work is succinctly summed up in these lines – “Been holding on too long to let go/Running too hard to slow down/Believing too deep to not have faith.”
Mavis has always strived to make us feel stronger. She is a remarkable role model bringing us remarkable, enviable spirit, captured here as well as it’s ever been.
