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Tweedy To Produce Mavis Staples Record


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Wrote a Song for Everyone:

 

http://nymag.com/dai...vis_staple.html

Heard this on the radio today - very very good.

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I am really looking forward to that Jeff-produced Mavis album that's coming out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAfMh_uLxvU

One of my favorite CCR songs. Paul Westerberg did a nice version of this too on a tour a few years back.

 

I don't know about Jeff, but I'd be freaking out on the inside big time working with Mavis. Talk about some serious Soul history (and greatness) there.

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Just found a really good article from the Chicago Sun-Times Dave Hoekstra, from 8/29. Boy, the connection between Mavis and Jeff seems genuine and strong, and it sounds like he found this experience in producing her album really inspirational. Also, lots of funny stuff in here re bird poop and Jeff's cooking skills and food-withholding strategies!

 

I'm including the text of the article below, but if you click on the link there's a picture or two, plus links to related articles.

 

http://www.suntimes....-082910.article

 

 

Mavis and Jeff: Eating, laughing and learning

August 29, 2010

BY DAVE HOEKSTRA Staff Reporter

 

Mavis Staples and Jeff Tweedy are two of the most prolific figures on the American roots music scene.

 

What did they learn on making “You Are Not Alone” that they can apply to future projects?

 

“To me, its just encouraging to be able to work with someone as great as Mavis Staples and not feel like I’m messing things up,” Tweedy said. “That’s something you need to learn. I don’t know if before these sessions if I had the confidence that would be the case. That was important. I learned the [Wilco loft] studio works for other people. This is the first time I’ve worked with other people than Wilco here.

 

“Its good to work with people that have recorded records for a long, long time. Standing in the same room and hearing Mavis sing into the air has allowed me to go back and listen to not just Staple Singers records, but other records from that time and feel like I can get more inside them — which is what my whole life has been about. I care about records so much. No matter how much I know about how the music is recorded, I’ve always pictured records as being performances, something really happening in a room. I’m able to envision that better after seeing how Mavis works and what it sounds like without it coming through electricity, speakers, stuff like that. “That is priceless to me.”

 

In a career that dates back 60 years this year to the formation of the Staple Singers, Staples said she has never had food catered at a session.

 

“Tweedy had a caterer every day!” Staples reported. “Lasagna. Mashed potatoes. Macaroni and cheese. Then we started telling him what we wanted. He made the most beautiful salads.” Staples looked over her right shoulder into the studio, lined with an army of guitars and said, “Tweedy would be over there setting up and we could smell the food. We were lickin’ our chops. And he’d go, ‘Nobody gets to eat until this song is finished!’ So we would jump on it and not make any mistakes so we could get back in the kitchen to eat.”

 

Tweedy: “Hungry takes are good takes.”

 

Staples: “And another thing I’ve never seen in a session was a TelePrompter. Normally my lyrics are on a music stand. The TelePrompTer was the best. It was also good to have the band I’ve been working with the past three years to be playing on the record. Tweedy saw that when I played the Hideout. They know me and I know them, so these songs were right on time. And Tweedy is funny, he just comes with stuff. You know you’re going to get your tickle on. The first thing I asked him today was what he thought about the pigeons pooping on those guys [Kings of Leon].”

 

And what did he say?

 

Tweedy: “When we were starting out, we considered it a luxury when a pigeon would s--- on our stage. I still don’t understand it. How can you walk offstage in front of a bunch of people? The show must go on, that’s the way it used to be. I can think of 1,000 things worse that have happened to me. That’s a lesson they’re going to learn. It means a lot to people when you walk offstage. I think we’ve only canceled one show in our whole career. I was in rehab. That’s a good reason. That had to happen.”

 

Dave Hoekstra

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Thanks for the link! We'll be in Chicago on 11/27, but for a 90th bday party. Not sure if we'll be able to make it, but I see she has a three night stand at Oneida in Green Bay. Maybe we could work the bingo cards beforehand?

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