The opening track on Mavis Staples’ One True Vine, her second record with Jeff Tweedy, may sound familiar. The song is called “Holy Ghost”, and it’s a lonely monologue featuring her full, beautifully controlled vocals backed by a whispery acoustic guitar strum and a judiciously unobtrusive backing choir. Written by Alan Sparhawk, it appeared on Low’s recent full-length, The Invisible Way, which Tweedy also produced. It’s a curious bit of synergy, and the Wilco frontman might be guilty of shameless product-placement had Staples’ version not turned out so well. Essentially a cappella, it’s a fine showcase for the vocalist, even if it she obliterates all the ambiguity in the original: This is not about “some holy ghost,” but the Holy Ghost.
What rankles, however, isn’t the song choice but its placement. On The Invisible Way “Holy Ghost” comes late on the first side, sounding like a mournful bit of spiritual questioning. As an album opener here, it’s so wistful and downcast that it sounds like we’ve intruded on Staples’ private prayer. This is not introduction but a benediction. One True Vine takes a while to get going, burdened by curious sequencing that emphasizes the songs’ low-key production and lurching pace. After “Holy Ghost” comes the Tweedy-penned “Every Step”, whose guitar feedback and punctuating stomps sound cheaply ominous. That’s followed by the sluggish Funkadelic cover “Can You Get to That”, which features a fine bass vocal from Donny Gerrard but never quite gets to that.
You Are Not Alone, Staples’ first collaboration with Tweedy from 2010, highlighted the septuagenarian’s still-commanding voice-- which has become all the more powerful with age and experience-- and proved the Wilco frontman could work in styles and genres well beyond indie Americana. Its tone was celebratory, as he showed a light touch in the control room and never burdened Staples’ performances with too much sound or too many studio tricks. You Are Not Alone sounded like a celebration: of a God who had blessed Staples with a long and influential musical career but also of a partnership that seemed to bring out the best in both artists.
That’s an almost impossible act to follow, and by contrast One True Vine sounds subdued, hesitant, downtempo, downcast-- its sentiments more reflective than rousing. It’s not until the fourth track, “Jesus Wept”, that the album really picks up. The song begins with Staples' voice: “My throat quits when I try to say how I long for the day,” she intones. “How I wish there was a way I could see you again.” Staples invests those lines with so much fear and yearning that the sense of loss becomes palpable. It’s an arresting moment, and in the album’s best bit of sequencing, it’s followed by “Far Celestial Shore”, written by Nick Lowe. An upbeat tune with a sharply strummed guitar propelling its quirky melody, it provides a contented punctuation to “Jesus Wept” by promising a reward in the afterlife for the trials of this life.
As Staples ponders the connections between the earthly and heavenly realms on “What Are They Doing in Heaven Today” and “Sow Good Seeds”, One True Vine shakes off the dust of the first half and rights itself mightily. An old Staples Singers tune, “I Like the Things About Me”, achieves a light, mobile funk, as though set in motion by some great epiphany, and “Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind on Jesus)” establishes a buoyant country-gospel groove punctuated by Staples’ ecstatic hallelujahs.
With its quick pace and infectious hook, “Woke Up This Morning” would make an effective and ebullient album opener, but it works well enough as the impassioned climax before the denouement of the title track. The album intends to trace the believer’s trajectory from doubt (“Holy Ghost”) to certainty (“One True Vine”), which lends the album an introspective quality and invests those final numbers with even more power. Still, One True Vine tarries too long in doubt before finally breaking that dour spell and inviting the listener in on the celebration.
