Mavis Staples

Mavis Staples – We’ll Never Turn Back

This decade boasts a cherished moment for soul rediscoveries: old veterans sounding new as Joe Henry’s spotlighted both Solomon Burke and Bettye LaVette, while new debuts like Amy Winehouse retreat into a supposed antiquated Motown sound. Mavis Staples, the front daughter for her father’s family band, The Staple Singers, remerges with assistance of known relic finder Ry Cooder (Buena Vista Social Club) , and a songbook full of Civil Rights Era hymns. As Martin Luther King’s warm up act, The Staples Singers stamped the late 60’s and early 70’s with their brand of gospel soul. We’ll Never Turn Back re-taps this energy, with its passion only increased with the presence of the original vocalists from the SNCC Freedom Singers, as well as Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Shifting between throaty and fiery spiritual sung proclamations (“99 1”) to the hymnal sweetness of self-penned “My Own Eyes”, Mavis’s voice still delivers its loved gritty expression.