Mavis Staples is responsible for my favourite episode of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, so much so that it forms part of my own little Christmas traditions, and yet I’ve never actually ever really listened to her. Thrilled to put on this collection of covers to find that the opening track is Tom Waits’ Chicago, bringing out the blues of it from a different angle, her beautiful bass voice in place of Waits’ rasp. Leonard Cohen’s Anthem is another highlight, another crack where the light gets in.