Watch Mavis Staples Perform New Song “Human Mind” On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert - Co-Written By Hozier & Allison Russell
Last night music icon Mavis Staples returned to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert stage to perform “Human Mind” from her new album ‘Sad And Beautiful World’, out this Friday. Co-written by Hozier and Allison Russell with Mavis in mind, watch + listen to the performance of the song below.
“Human Mind” on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: https://youtu.be/93iJcfvkdYw?si=l1t53Wl1vai4vwta
‘Sad And Beautiful World’ is the latest solo album from a national treasure and multigenerational talent who stands side by side with us in the face of dangers she knows all too well, at a time when more and more people have reason to wonder who and what could be lost. Produced by Brad Cook, the record spans seven decades of the American songbook — a range nearly as vast as Mavis’ career — and includes reinventions of timeless songs as well as original music. “Human Mind” was the first track recorded, paying tribute to the complexity of life yet maintaining a faith in humanity: “Even in these days, I find / this far down the line, I find good in it sometimes,” Mavis contemplates. That magical last word — “sometimes” — shows her choosing hope, even with the disappointments that experience has brought.
It’s impossible to talk to Mavis’ collaborators without them bringing up the strength of her spirit and her generosity, growing animated over how much her songs mean to them. Russell described hearing the Staple Singers as a preteen and finding out that Mavis had played a key part in the civil rights movement as a young woman.
Upon being told that a verse from “Human Mind” she’d written (“I am the last, daddy, the last of us”) had made Mavis cry, Russell said she’d been deeply affected. “Mavis is the transcendent force of love embodied,” she said. “There is no higher honor than one of my biggest heroes being moved by words I wrote.”
Producer Brad Cook also tells stories about growing up listening to the Staple Singers. About seeing Mavis perform live, he said, “I remember being utterly floored by the conviction and power she had in her voice.”
To capture Mavis’ resonant phrasing and textured vocals, Cook tried to build every song around that voice. He began with spare skeleton recordings, just drum and piano, and focused on recording her vocals. Then he expanded the song from there, trying never to overshadow or undermine the framework she’d established. He imagined a record in the tradition of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Will the Circle Be Unbroken, a group of artists coming together to celebrate community—in this case, one centered on Mavis.
Sad And Beautiful World shows that love is a choice and a force all its own. The album is a litany of prayer, of Mavis breathing life into these songs. “I just have to deliver the compassion I feel,” she says. “I want to share the song the way I feel it.”
TOUR DATES
Nov 6 – Ridgefield, CT @ Ridgefield Playhouse
Nov 8 – Portsmouth, NH @ Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club
Nov 21 – San Antonio, TX @ Carver Community Cultural Center
Dec 10 – Denver, CO @ The Mission Ballroom w/ Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
Dec 11 – Denver, CO @ The Mission Ballroom w/ Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
January 10 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre (w/ support from Nathaniel Rateliff solo)
Jan 15 – Tyler, TX @ UT Tyler Cowan Center
Jan 16 – Dallas, TX @ Longhorn Ballroom
Jan 18 – Fort Walton Beach, FL @ 30A Songwriters Festival
January 24 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium (w/ support from MJ Lenderman)
February 28 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (w/ support from Allison Russell)
March 12 – Medford, OR @ Holly Theatre
March 14 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall