A video of Levon Helm and Mavis Staples performing Nina Simone’s “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” premiered today. The performance will appear on the upcoming live album, Carry Me Home, due out on May 20 via ANTI- documenting a series of concerts the longtime friends and collaborators delivered in 2011 at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, New York.
The shows took place less than a year before The Band’s Levon Helm died on April 19, 2012. “It never crossed my mind that it might be the last time we’d see each other,” Staples recalled. “He was so full of life and so happy that week. He was the same old Levon I’d always known, just a beautiful spirit inside and out.”
ANTI- Records announced the release of Carry Me Home in March. The label also shared a preview track, “You Got To Move,” and now follow with the “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” video.
Jazz great Billy Taylor originally wrote “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” in 1963. Nina Simone recorded the song for her landmark 1967 album Silk & Soul. The new video of Helm and Staples performing the tune features previously unseen footage of their final time together.
Watch Levon Helm and Mavis Staples on “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” below:
Mavis Staples will perform with Levon’s daughter Amy Helm to celebrate Carry Me Home’s release on May 20 and more. Check out Mavis’ tour dates:
