With a smart assist from Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Mavis Staples transforms Funkadelic’s “Can You Get To That” from a sing-along slab of greasy-good uplift into this Americana-inflected groover.
Now spare and propulsive, the underlying theme of karmic comeuppance found on this tune — originally included on 1971’s Maggot Brain — rises to the fore, dovetailing perfectly with the sharply topical efforts that Staples has been issuing of late.
“Can You Get To That” is set for release on the 10-song One True Vine, due June 25, 2013, from Anti-. For Staples, it’s a happy reunion with Tweedy, who also produced her terrific 2010 release You Are Not Alone. Tweedy, along with son Spencer, also play nearly all of the instruments on this new studio effort.
Elsewhere on One True Vine, which was recorded at Wilco’s Loft, Staples takes on a pair of tunes written specifically for her by Tweedy (“Jesus Wept”) and by Nick Lowe (“Celestial Shore”), as well as a cover of Low’s “Holy Ghost” — another Tweedy production from the Loft that later appeared on The Invisible Way.
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