You Are Not Alone (Mavis Staples album)

You Are Not Alone
Studio album by Mavis Staples
Released	September 14, 2010
Recorded	2010
Studio	The Wilco Loft (Chicago) [1]
Length	45:13
Label	Anti-
Producer	Jeff Tweedy
Mavis Staples chronology
Live: Hope at the Hideout (2008) You Are Not Alone (2010) One True Vine (2013)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	81/100 [2]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
The A.V. Club	A− [4]
Billboard	[5]
Chicago Tribune	[6]
Entertainment Weekly	A− [7]
Paste	9.1/10 [8]
Pitchfork	8.2/10 [9]
PopMatters	7/10 [10]
Rolling Stone	[11]
Spin	6/10 [12]

You Are Not Alone is the eighth studio album by American gospel and soul singer Mavis Staples, released September 14, 2010, through Anti-. It won the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards. ^[13]

Reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 16 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". ^[2]

Track listing

You Are Not Alone track listing ^[1]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Don't Knock"	Roebuck Staples	2:30
2.	"You Are Not Alone"	Jeff Tweedy	3:57
3.	"Downward Road"	R. Staples	3:08
4.	"In Christ There Is No East or West"	Traditional Tweedy [a]	3:36
5.	"Creep Along Moses"	Traditional Tweedy [a]	2:57
6.	"Losing You"	Randy Newman	2:52
7.	"I Belong to the Band"	Reverend Gary Davis	3:31
8.	"Last Train"	Allen Toussaint	4:29
9.	"Only the Lord Knows"	Tweedy	3:44
10.	"Wrote a Song for Everyone"	John Fogerty	3:47
11.	"We're Gonna Make It"	Gene Barge Billy Davis Raynard Miner Carl William Smith	3:27
12.	"Wonderful Savior"	Traditional Mavis Staples [a]	2:05
13.	"Too Close / On My Way to Heaven"	Alex Bradford Jr. [b] R. Staples [b]	5:10
Total length:			45:13

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies an arranger.
• ^{^[b]} Bradford is credited for writing "Too Close" and Staples is credited for writing "On My Way to Heaven". ^[1]

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. ^[1]

• Mavis Staples – lead vocals
• Rick Holmstrom – guitar (all tracks), background vocals (track 11)
• Jeff Turmes – bass, guitar (all tracks); second guitar (1), background vocals (11)
• Stephen Hodges – drums, percussion
• Donny Gerrard – vocals
• Jeff Tweedy – production (all tracks), bass (1), acoustic guitar (2, 4, 9, 10); fuzz guitar, background vocals (9)
• Tom Schick – engineering, mastering
• Mark Greenberg – engineering assistance (all tracks), celeste (2), vibraphone (4)
• Jason Tobias – additional engineering, technical support
• Nora O'Connor – background vocals (1–5, 7, 8, 10–13)
• Kelly Hogan – background vocals (1–3, 5, 8, 10–13)
• Patrick Sansone – Wurlitzer (2, 8, 11), piano (2, 9, 10), vibraphone (2); celeste, Mellotron (4); tambourine (7), organ (8, 11), background vocals (9)
• Richard Parenti – background vocals (4, 7)
• Chris Strong – photography

References

1. You Are Not Alone (Media notes). Mavis Staples. Anti-. September 14, 2010.
2. You Are Not Alone Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2011-01-12.
3. Leggett, Steve (September 14, 2010). Review: You Are Not Alone. AllMusic. Retrieved on 2011-01-12.
4. Phipps, Keith (September 21, 2010). "Mavis Staples: You Are Not Alone". The A.V. Club . Retrieved January 12, 2011.
5. Billboard Staff (September 24, 2010). "Mavis Staples, "You Are Not Alone"". Billboard . Retrieved May 15, 2025.
6. Kot, Greg (September 10, 2010). "Album review: Mavis Staples, 'You Are Not Alone'". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
7. Willman, Chris (September 7, 2010). "You Are Not Alone (2010) Mavis Staples". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on September 13, 2010. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
8. Young, Jon (September 14, 2010). "Mavis Staples: You Are Not Alone". Paste . Archived from the original on September 17, 2010. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
9. Deusner, Stephen M (September 23, 2010). "You Are Not Alone Mavis Staples". Pitchfork . Retrieved January 12, 2011.
10. McCarthy, Sean (September 23, 2010). "Mavis Staples: You Are Not Alone". PopMatters . Archived from the original on June 7, 2012. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
11. Wolk, Douglas (September 13, 2010). "You Are Not Alone". Rolling Stone . Retrieved January 12, 2011.
12. Menconi, David (August 23, 2010). "Mavis Staples, 'You Are Not Alone' (Anti-)". Spin . Retrieved January 12, 2011.
13. "Nominees and Winners | GRAMMY.com". Archived from the original on December 1, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2012.

External links

• You Are Not Alone at ANTI- website