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ARTISTS
You can't go much deeper than Mavis Staples. Lead vocalist for The Staple
Singers for more than 40 years, her [contralto] voice is a mighty force of
nature and an instrument of social change; as deep as the Mississippi itself -
and carrying nearly as much history.
According to Mavis, The Staples' music went through three distinct phases.
From their gospel beginnings, when they were known as "God's Biggest Hit
Makers," to their Civil Rights "protest" era (marching and singing shoulder to
shouler with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.) to their of deep-groove, R&B hits
in the '70s ("Respect Yourself," "Reach Out, Touch a Hand," "I'll Take You
There"). These days, when Mavis sings, it's impossible to tell where gospel
leaves off and the secular begins. But when "Respect Yourself" was first
released in 1972, gospel purists were scandalized that their beloved Staples
were singing the "devil's music." "The devil doesn't have any music,"
Mavis protests today, still indignant at the suggestion more than thirty years
later. "All of our music is healing music."
Mavis's father, Roebuck "Pops" Staples, was the patriarch and guiding spirit
of The Staple Singers. Born 1914 in Winona, Mississippi, Pops grew up picking
cotton on the fabled Dockery Farms plantation - the home or stopping-off place
for a virtual honor roll of some of the greatest blues musicians who ever lived:
Son House, Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and the man who taught
Pops to play guitar, Charley Patton - the father of the Delta Blues himself. You
can make a good argument that all the music that became what we now know as pop,
soul, rock 'n' roll, country and western, rhythm and blues - even hip-hop - can
be traced back to Pops Staples' boyhood home. Beyond that, the trail goes cold,
dissolving into a vanished time of ghost stories, flood waters, moonlit
crossroads, and Biblical marvels. But, Mavis - she can take you there.
Work Song Streaming Player
Mavis Staples Official
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