We'll Never Turn Back (CD - 2007)

Personnel: Mavis Staples (vocals); Ry Cooder (guitar, mandolin); Mike Elizondo (piano); Jim Keltner (drums); Joachim Cooder (percussion); Betty Fikes, Charles Neblett, Rutha Harris (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Martin Pradler.

Liner Note Author: Rep. John Lewis.

Recording information: Sound City Studio, Van Nuys, CA.

Author: Mavis Staples.

Photographer: David Bartlett.

Arrangers: Ry Cooder; Joachim Cooder; Mavis Staples.

Mavis Staple's 2007 album, WE'LL NEVER TURN BACK is a stunning achievement from one of soul and gospel's most revered singers. Produced by Ry Cooder, the album is built around freedom songs of the civil rights movement--some are traditional ("Eyes on the Prize"), some are appropriated for the theme ("99 and 1/2"), while others are originals ("I'll Be Rested"). As much a celebration of hard-won freedom as a reminder of past and current injustices, the album features stirring gospel choir vocals from both Ladysmith Black Mombazo and original members of the SNCC Freedom Singers.

Yet the album is first and foremost a platform for Mavis Staples's stirring voice, one that is as much a liberating force as any protest. Cooder, to his credit, keeps things appropriately raw and immediate, and the band always positions Staples at the front of the line. As deeply moving as any album made in 2007, WE'LL NEVER TURN BACK is at once a call to arms, a new cadence for a new march, and the celebratory soundtrack for the jubilee on the other side of the mountain. minimize