How Mavis Staples’s New Record Got Made

Ben Harper got the news in May. He and his band, the Innocent Criminals, were in Santa Monica’s Village Studio, working on their next album. Neko Case heard from the head of her record label in July. “I hemmed and hawed,” she said, “because I’m not worthy, you know?” Merrill Garbus, of tUnE-yArDs, found out in June. “I may have bullied my way in there,” she said. The musicians were among a small number—including Nick Cave, Justin Vernon, and Valerie June—asked to write original material for a Mavis Staples record.