It's difficult to describe the dignity and gentle wisdom that permeate the music of seventy-seven-year-old Pops Staples. The patriarch of gospel's venerable Staples Singers family has spent a lifetime singing and playing gospel music, and it has been our good fortune that every now and then a Staples Singers track such as "I'll Take You There" or "Respect Yourself" has made its way into the collective pop consciousness. The release of this album – only his second solo outing – is another such fortunate moment.

Peace to the Neighborhood finds Staples surrounded on various tracks by inspired helping hands: Bonnie Raitt and her band shine on a charged reworking of Jackson Browne's "World in Motion" while Ry Cooder chips in with magnificent acoustic slide work on the swampy "Down in Mississippi" and the spirited "I Shall Not Be Moved." Still, it is primarily the power of Pops's heartfelt vocals and his incisive, trademark blues-gospel guitar style that provide the strongest glow. You can hear generations of soul-preacher moves in the monologues of "Love Is a Precious Thing" and "Miss Cocaine," and decades of influential guitar riffs on "This May Be the Last Time." Ultimately, though, you're left with a message and a wish: "Thank you, Lord, for another day/Help my brother along the way/Please bring peace to the neighborhood." Amen. (RS 637)

BILLY ALTMAN