The legendary singer has lost little expressiveness with age, but these songs are about the small, quiet spaces where she can catch her breath and steel her nerves.
Mavis Staples carves out a little space for herself on “Heavy on My Mind,” a time-stopping song on her fifth album of the 2010s. The mood is dark, the music spare: just a steely electric guitar, a distant tambourine that sounds like rattling chains, and Staples’ mighty voice. She’s mic’d so close you can hear the breath catch in her throat between words, subtle exhalations that reveal her sincerity as well as her age. She turns 80 this year, and she doesn’t mind showing her experience and wisdom. “Heavy on My Mind” grapples with the devastation of loss and the confusion that accompanies grief: “Sometimes I wish, sometimes I fall in the well,” she sighs. “We can wait out the storm or we can stand in the rain/Gonna have to mourn or hide from some pain.” It’s a remarkable vocal performance by an artist who specializes in them, and a reminder of just how easy it is to take Staples for granted.
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