The voice of the legendary Mavis Staples is sounding more soulful than ever on her raw new album, We Get By. And on the opening track, written and produced by Ben Harper, Ms Staples pleads simply and repeatedly for the violence and intolerance of our age to end. “Bullets flying, mothers crying,” she sings in this concise three minute blues, accompanied by a growling guitar riff. “We gotta change around here”…
“Fists are flying in the name of love,” sings Leyla McCalla on Aleppo, the sobering standout centrepiece of her third album, The Capitalist Blues. “So much violence in the name of love,” she continues as the guitar pierces us with a shriek of obstreperous feedback. “We look on and on, we don’t heed the call / Who knows if we care at all?…
Lively LA ska punks The Interrupters are calling for greater unity at a time of great division. And their song even contains a few specifics about how we might get there. Unfortunately, it’s going to require a bit of sacrifice, so, you know, just scroll on by if that’s going to be too hard…