Mavis and Jeff's Excellent Adventure

First of all, apologies that Waits 101 has hit the skids, but things at the office have become pretty busy, so unfortunately I can't carve an hour out of my day to write. The second half will get rolling pretty soon. Think of this as a time to immerse yourself in the three albums we've already covered.

As busy as I am, I wanted to take a moment to call attention to Mavis Staples' new album, You Are Not Alone. Yes, it was produced by Jeff Tweedy, and yes, that's probably the only reason I took an interest in it in the first place. But no matter my motives, I did check it out, and it's really excellent. I'm not much of a soul music fan, and I'm wary of blindly embracing albums via a production credit (see: Ryan Adams-produced Songbird by Willie Nelson, which I scarcely touched after its initial release.) But You Are Not Alone really surprised me. Embedded below is Mavis and Jeff chatting about the record in an endearing little documentary clip:

"I don't know where Tweedy's been all my life." -- Mavis Staples

I hear you, Mavis. I remember thinking the same thing after I first listened to Summerteeth.