One True Vine (LP)

Coming off the huge success of her first collaboration with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy the Grammy winning You Are Not Alone Mavis Staples wanted to make their second album together both a continuation of the joyous spirit of the first, and an evolution. With new song offerings from Alan Sparhawk of Low, Nick Lowe, and three Tweedy originals, One True Vine is at once a darker and more uplifting album, anchored by reinventions of two 70s classics Funkadelic s "Can You Get to That?" and the Staples Singer s "I Like the Things About Me. " Tweedy and Staples have constructed a dense narrative arc, that starts with the literal soul searching of Sparhawk s "One Holy Ghost" and Tweedy s "Jesus Wept, " and then breaks wide open with Nick Lowe s soaring "Far Celestial Shores, " a song he wrote for Mavis after touring together with Wilco. After that, the album builds to full tent revival mode, as the dark night of the soul passes and joy arrives in the form of Mavis glorious voice. Closing out with Tweedy s rapturous title track, One True Vine truly builds on the promise of You Are Not Alone, and will delight the myriad fans discovering Mavis for the first time though her Grammy wins and performances, her White House performance in the tribute to Memphis Soul, and the glorious second act of this American icon.