Now 76, the youngest of the Staple Singers, whose voices soundtracked the civil rights movement, is still trying to do more. Her 13th solo album pairs her with producer M Ward and a host of contemporary writers, from Tune-Yards to Neko Case, in a bid for more “uplifting and joyful music” about friendship and survival. It doesn’t all come off. The Aloe Blacc-penned Tomorrow has a bit of the self-help manual about it, and Nick Cave’s Jesus, Lay Down Beside Me never quite lives up to the mischievous title. Staples is at her best when there’s a hint of agony amid the ecstasy: it’s hard not to be humbled by the vulnerability in her voice on the Head and the Heart’s If It’s a Light. M Ward and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon contribute the stirring Dedicated, and when Staples yells, “If it’s us against the world, I’ll bet on us”, she sounds, again, on a quest to make a difference.
