By Erica H. Adams.
Legendary soul and gospel diva Mavis Staples will “take you there,” into the New Year, at Symphony Hall (at 9 p.m.) this Saturday, December 31th, marking the performer’s First Night debut in Boston. The singer’s sultry voice effortlessly fuses her gospel roots with rhythm and blues. VH1 named Staples one of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll. Rolling Stone named the Staples Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself” among the Top 500 Songs of All Time.
“Mavis is the walking embodiment of undaunted spirit and courage,” says Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy. “She’s an ever-forward looking, positive example for all human beings. And she sounds like she’s in the prime of her life.” In 2008 when Tweedy, a fellow Chicagoan, saw Staples and her band at The Hideout, he knew he had to work with her.
Tweedy produced Staples’s new, bold album You Are Not Alone. This new CD is the follow-up to We’ll Never Turn Back, her 2007 collection of songs associated with the civil rights movement. About her new CD, Staples says that “all of these songs are me, but in a different way, with a different sound . . . the messages are the same things I’ve been saying down through the years. They’re about the world today—poverty, jobs, welfare, all of that—and making it feel better through these songs.”
Staples is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and a National Heritage Fellowship Award recipient. Featured in The Band’s The Last Waltz with the Staple Singers, Staples has collaborated and appeared with an impressive list of movers and shakers, from Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bill Cosby to Presidents Kennedy, Carter, and Clinton, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Prince, Bob Dylan, Los Lobos, Aretha Franklin, and Ry Cooder.
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