Mavis Staples; We'll Never Turn Back (2007)

 |   |  1 min read

Down In Mississippi
Mavis Staples; We'll Never Turn Back (2007)

The great gospel-soul singer Mavis Staples -- now in her Eighties -- was a member of the legendary Staples Singers founded by her father Pops Staples, a close personal friend of Dr Martin Luther King.

During the Civil Rights period music was on the frontline so to speak. Much of the Staples' music was political or inspirational and gave comfort to those struggling for rights and recognition.

This exceptional album takes this wonderful, warm, powerful and earthy voice back to those days on a selection of songs -- produced by Ry Cooder using his band, and with backing vocals by Ladysmith Black Mambazo on a few tracks -- which evoke that era.

From the startling opener -- a treatment of JB Lenoir's Down in Mississippi -- to the closer, Jesus on the Mainline, the traditional songs are matched by originals from Cooder, Staples and others.

There is a deep sense of gravitas and empowerment here which is set against gloriously evocative arrangements where moody beats, mercurial guitar from Cooder and haunting vocals manage to be make this deeply personal and political but also life-affirming in the face of adversity.

Mavis Staples is a legend who has sung at the White House and with The Band at their Last Waltz, and on the frontline. But she had some trepidation about recording this album until she looked around her.

As she told Bilboard magazine at the time: "I realised what these songs were about wasn't all in the past. You've got Katrina and all of these black people - and some whites - floating around in this water with signs asking for help.

"And you've got policemen shooting these black guys with 50 shots. Why?

"And then you have a white comedian [Michael Richards, Kramer in Seinfeld] standing onstage and shouting the 'N' word.

"So it's all still here."

And any reading of American news tells you it still is. 

Race, rights and righteousness were all on this timeless album. 

Truly exceptional.

These Essential Elsewhere pages deliberately point to albums which you might not have thought of, or have even heard . . .

But they might just open a door into a new kind of music, or an artist you didn't know of.

Jump in.

The deep end won't be out of your depth . . .

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Essential Elsewhere articles index

Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)

Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)

Once I was asked if I would contribute a page to a monthly magazine on famous musicians I had met. That part was easy, I've met quite a few. But then the person said they would like to run the... > Read more

Jon Hassell: Dream Theory in Malaya (1981)

Jon Hassell: Dream Theory in Malaya (1981)

When I imported this album in 1981 it was on the basis of faith: faith that the Melody Maker writer who had hailed it was on the money, that Brian Eno who appeared as a collaborator and on whose EG... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Durand Jones and the Indications: Private Space (Dead Oceans/digital outlets)

Durand Jones and the Indications: Private Space (Dead Oceans/digital outlets)

This beautifully slinky, synth-soul album slips around you like a comfort blanket from the glorious opener Love Will Work It Out through to the final falsetto soul of I Can See. But don't be... > Read more

Tom Russell: Chocolate Cigarettes (1991)

Tom Russell: Chocolate Cigarettes (1991)

Whether his stories are literally true or not (and some, like the Leadbelly song about boxer Jack Johnson being denied passage on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, aren't), the American... > Read more