The words “iconic” or “legendary” are used far too often these days, to the point of ubiquitous meaninglessness, but soul and gospel singer Mavis Staples, last surviving member of The Staple Singers, at 86, really is both: a civil rights activist whose family knew Dr Martin Luther King and an artist that has been sampled by the likes of Salt ‘n’ Pepa to Ice Cube. She’s also an inductee into, respectively, the Blues, Gospel and Rock ‘n’ Roll Halls of Fame. Her voice is still the powerful, husky instrument it’s always been. Tina Turner and Amy Winehouse wouldn’t have had the impact they did without her vocal influence.

This, her fifteenth solo album, produced by Bon Iver producer Brad Cook, simmers with rage at Trump’s American ideocracy; yet is fuelled by hope for positive resistance and better days to come. There’s a liveliness to the recording, creating real intimacy. ‘Anthem’ addresses this with a slow-burning gospel song. ‘Godspeed’ is more elegiac, and the title track’s pedal steel mines a soulful melancholy, which seems apposite as it was penned by Sparklehorse’s late singer Mark Linkous, a man who knew his way around poignant Americana. Staples’ gorgeous contralto is best when it’s low and slinky though, as evinced by the incantation of ‘Beautiful Strangers’, a meditation on empowerment when all can seem lost. “I am a rock”, she declares. Yes, indeed you are. Superlatives are entirely justified.