Sad And Beautiful World

This album has been added to 2 public lists:

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  Best, Favorite, & Most Interesting Albums Of 2025

  Mark

  • Genre: R&B / Soul / Gospel / Americana.
  • Influenced by: Mahalia Jackson, Curtis Mayfield, Tom Waits, Gillian Welch, Frank Ocean, The Staple Singers.
  • Similar artists: Aretha Franklin (later soul/gospel-rock edge), Bonnie Raitt, Jeff Tweedy (solo/roots-leaning work), Waxahatchee (soul-tinged Americana), Buddy Guy (soul-blues), Derek Trucks (blues-rock / Southern roots).
  • About this album: At 86, Staples partnered with producer Brad Cook (Waxahatchee, Bon Iver) to curate a record that acts as a bridge between her gospel roots and the modern indie-folk landscape. The record features contributions from a wide array of artists — including Katie Crutchfield, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Derek Trucks, Jeff Tweedy, and others. The record blends Staples’s decades-deep voice and moral authority with modern roots and soul instrumentation — finger-picked guitars, soft horns, light percussion — giving a restrained, intimate palette that puts her voice front-and-center. The album is a mix of covers and reinterpretations spanning many decades plus a small number of original or newly written songs, allowing Staples, 86, to draw on her long experience with gospel, soul, civil-rights-era music, and contemporary music. Worth noting: Despite her fame, Staples does her own laundry and errands, believing in staying connected to people. Bob Dylan once proposed to her. She turned him down.
  • Metacritic Score: 90 (universal acclaim).
  • Awards / Nominations: Nominated for two 2026 Grammy awards: Best American Roots Performance ("Beautiful Strangers"); Best Americana Performance ("Godspeed").
  • Song To Sample: “Anthem” — another Leonard Cohen cover (she previously covered "If It Be Your Will" on "Here It Is," the Cohen tribute album). Only Mavis could come close to imbuing the same ethereal quality as Cohen himself.
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  2025

  David Thorley