Candi Staton - His Hands * 2006

As female soul singers go, Candi Staton is probably only surpassed by Aretha, Mavis, and Gladys. Her new His Hands, also not a comeback but definitely a return to the secular after many years in the gospel fold, is one of the best albums of 2006. Seriously, with great songs by Merle Haggard and Charlie Rich, this one is top ten all the way.

Produced by Lambchop member Mark Nevers, and featuring the organ work of Muscle Shoals-ter Barry Beckett, His Hands treats the studio as an additional instrument rather than a nuisance, with the intent to emphasize Staton’s raspy and impassioned voice, to enrich and even complicate the emotion of the song. The title track, with a jaw-dropping whisper-to-a-scream-to-a-prayer arrangement, is a real record, friends and neighbors (and the hands-down best thing songwriter Will Oldham has ever has his name associated with). Every piece works to the fulfillment of the whole, the journey Staton takes us on from tender lover to abusive lover to the hands of the Lord.