#gospel

#gospel

The first song I fell in love with God Will Open Doors by Walter Hawkins. I grew up on the Hawkins gospel family. They were my teachers. I was raised by my grandparents, and my auntie fell in love with the gospel sound and imported records from America although my grandparents thought it was a bit too secular, even though it was gospel.

That new album, Sad and Beautiful World released on 7 November includes a small galaxy of music legends orbiting around Staples at the centre. As well as covers of songs by Curtis Mayfield, Gillian Welch, Frank Ocean, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Porter Wagoner, plus US alt heroes Mark Sparklehorse Linkous and Kevin Morby, there are new songs, including one written for and about Staples by Hozier and Allison Russell.

"Music is messaging, and music is what feeds the soul. And I'm definitely using my platform to be able to speak on trans rights, and just all of the rights of people in the LGBTQ+ community."