Only two months after the release of
Don't Lose This, an album based on the final recordings of her father
Pops,
Mavis Staples issued
Your Good Fortune, an EP made with fellow Anti- label artist
Son Little. It came out around the same time as Mavis!, a documentary and celebration of
Staples' 60 years as one of the most enriching and relevant voices in music. Producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist
Little -- his sound rustic and heartfelt, rooted in classic soul and blues, with added rhythmic heft applied from hip-hop -- is as viable an accomplice for
Staples as
Jeff Tweedy. There's a little more dust and grit in these four songs, split between originals and updates, than there is in the
Tweedy sessions. There are no composer credits on the physical release, but
Staples acknowledged that
Little wrote the first two songs. The title cut is high-quality Southern gospel, where
Staples questions her worth in front of an echoing trio of background vocalists (including
Megan Livingston,
Little's sister). "Fight" is a tightly tumbling protest song with bite: "Freedom and justice, well, they ain't yo' plaything/Prop up your puppets and you kill the real kings."
Blind Lemon Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean," covered by the
Pops-fronted
Staples on 1962's
Hammer and Nails (as "Dying Man's Plea"), has appropriately solemn backing, while a fresh version of
Pops' own "Wish I Had Answered" (the original of which appeared on 1963's
This Land), concludes the short set in rollicking, feverish fashion. Hopefully this is merely a teaser for a full-length collaboration.
Staples and
Little are a fine creative match. ~ Andy Kellman