Soul music legend Mavis Staples has spoken of her joy on hearing Tom Jones has covered The Staple Singers' 'You Don't Knock' on his new album:
“Really? Yes, I find that surprising. But then not really. Tom Jones went down to Memphis one time to do an album - I don’t know what happened to it - but he actually had another song that he liked by The Staple Singers called ‘Getting Too Big For Your Britches’. I don’t think it ever came out. This guy in New York was producing that. But it just makes you feel so good to know that. That is surprising that Tom Jones has recorded ‘Don’t Knock’ - I would love to hear that! That is wonderful to hear. I love Tom Jones - he has always been great, and for him to want to sing one of the songs that Pops [Staples] wrote is a double plus.”
The praise for his back to basics album will be welcomed following the criticism directed his way by the head of his own record label who labelled it a "sick joke" (read ClashMusic's news story about it HERE). Tom Jones new album 'Praise And Blame', featuring his versions of many classic soul, gospel and traditional songs, is released on July 26th.
The full interview with Mavis Staples will appear in Clash in September, to time with her own new album, ‘You Are Not Alone’, produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy.
Read a previous Clash interview with Mavis on ClashMusic.com HERE.