On November 7, 2025, “Anti-“ label released “Sad and Beautiful World”, the fourteenth Mavis Staples studio album. It was recorded in 2025, at “Lost Boy”, “Chicago Recording Company Studio D”, and was produced by Brad Cook. Two of the album’s tracks received awards at the 2026 “Grammy Awards”, including “Beautiful Strangers” for “Best American Roots Performance” and “Godspeed” for “Best Americana Performance”.
Personnel:
- Mavis Staples – lead vocals
- Phil Cook – acoustic and electric guitar, piano, organ, Wurlitzer, synthesizers
- Rick Holmstrom – electric guitar
- Buddy Guy – electric guitar
- MJ Lenderman – acoustic and electric guitar, drums, backing vocals
- Nathan Stocker – acoustic and electric guitar, synthesizers
- Derek Trucks – slide guitar
- Andrew Marlin – mandolin
- Colin Croom – pedal steel
- Bonnie Raitt – slide guitar, backing vocals
- Andy Kaulkin – piano
- Jeff Tweedy – bass
- Will Miller – EVI bass synthesizer, trumpet
- Brad Cook – drum programming, bass synthesizer, vibraphone, acoustic guitar, bass, synthesizers, tambourine, horn arrangement
- Matt McCaughan – drums, percussion, OP-1 bass, drum programming, synthesizers
- Spencer Tweedy – drums
- Matt Douglas – saxophone
- Trevor Hagen – trumpet
- Eric Burton – harmony vocals
- Sam Beam – backing vocals
- Nathaniel Rateliff – backing vocals
- Tré Burt – harmony vocals
- Amy Ray – backing vocals
- Anjimile – backing vocals
- Kara Jackson – backing vocals, outro poem
- Katie Crutchfield – backing vocals
- Justin Vernon – backing vocals
- Patterson Hood – backing vocals
- Brad Cook –engineer, mixing
- Paul Voran – engineer, mixing
- Justin Vernon – additional engineering
- Tom Schick – additional engineering
- Joel Jaffe – additional engineering
- Mathieu Lejeune – additional engineering
- Jonathan Lackey – additional engineering
- Brian Hernandez – additional engineering assistance
- Jimmy Mahoney – additional engineering assistance
- Chris Shaw – mixing
- Tim Smiley – mastering
- Trevor Hernandez – layout, design
- Lauren N. Bailey – layout, design
- Elizabeth De La Piedra – photography
Track listing:
- Chicago – Tom Waits, Kathleen Brenan
- Beautiful Strangers – Kevin Morby
- Sad and Beautiful World – Mark Linkous
- Human Mind – Andrew Hozier-Byrne, Allison Russell
- Hard Times – David Todd. Gillian Welch
- Godspeed – Christopher Breaux, James Ho
- We Got to Have Piece – Curtis Mayfield
- Anthem – Leonard Cohen
- Satisfied Mind – Jack Rhodes, Red Hayes
- Everybody Needs Love – Eddie Hinton
