Soul-gospel legend rekindled old musical spark with Witco main man Jeff Tweedy MAVIS STAPLES WkhMlffl Touualnt Whe: Sunchy,7 p.tn. wi-: 0.....Centn!
that wu so lnteruting because my Ca.ther's falhu wu bllnd and he had a scose like tho t. 'But lhat told me: Theway he 1&11:ed about family. My father and mother always lnstllled In us ths1 family is the slrongc11 unit In tho world. Always stlck whh rour family.If you do, nobody•� break you. So we bad a good tlmtt (or about 2� hours and wbeii 1 wnc oul of there I felt bite I �Jeff�. II wasjust be•1111 made lo Mavni lor ut to be� doingthb.. For YouAre NOlAlunct. 1"ttdy dua up &od tt•wrotc a few classics from soul and go,pcl roota, and adap1od ma1erlal by Touualnt, Creeden� Clearwater kevl\'11.I aod famed oom poser and ,ongwril1'r RAndy Newman.
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BY FRANCOIS NARCHAND V,'ll(U\NtllSW.
en Ma�$�pies piclcsu�the phoM, it's dillia.,Jt to bffi,,·c Jie,"trice oo the other end of tbt line i. that or•7.l·)'elll'-Old WOIDllJL Slaplesls quick to laugh and aslh'Cly as evuwhen tsbd about the "'Ollder ru1 year •be hujust bad, a year that included ..,..�,11 (estival appea,aocts, LOUling with ooul-gospel legeDd :md old fritnd AllenTo,maint, andscoop ing bu first Grammy for Best Amer icana Album for YouAre Not AioM, her 12th studio ttcord produttd by \\'iloomain mao and fellow Cbleagoan Jcfl'Tweedy. ·My doctor says, 'You're a young73, MaYl.s,'" Slllples said from her home In Chicago. �You have a young heart, young brain, young splrlL' Thal'• wonderful "llock in the '70$, [the Staple Sing· �rs] just lcJlcw we ,,ere going to get this Grammy aod when we didn't, my •ls�rs aod I moped B11d got kind of sad," she said of her fltSl Gr-mmy win."Pops told us, 'I don't W1lllt you Ill getting down over this Cnammy. 'l'b11's just :m award. You'tt singing for )'OUC jmt rew.ard, and you1l gel thatwhen the limetOme&.. "So I bpitbat in i11Y mindand ll<fff wu excited about the Cl'mmyt. l'\-e bffn nominated many times and didn't win. ·aut this timeI t&lad lo Pops and I uid, 'I'm oony but I W&DI to win lhls Grammy.' I'm telling you: The Lord smiled on me and Popa '!"lled on mo and 1 was like• blubbering Uulc ldd wheJ.1 l went up lhctc. l co11'dn't •lop 0)1� . U was j11st hll•utiful.• \Vbile Staples still i a a young soul after all these years singing with her father, Roebuck (Pope) $�plea, her sisters in theSt:apleSinAen and work• ing solo,T weed y N1Vea1ed bl.mulf u the older o ne when worldng with the goepel/R&B legend. -A longtime fan of Smplu. !he Wllco fronnnan orig!oaJJy�to mttl S ta · ples m 2 oo 6 -but bad to wall until a concert at Chicago's r..med Hideout ill 2oo8 beforebclllg able 10 colln«t with her. All of>\'ilco wu p1cau1 at 1M lime,
amongolhcrt.
R&B singer Mavis Staples, 73. hopes her tunes wlfl tlft people and give them hope during lhes. hard economic times. Staples ,aid. and the meeting didn't Involve much more than hangingou1 o.nd snepping • few photos. Two \\-ecb laler, Staeles rct<!lved • phonecan sayingTwtt<ly ..as offerlJ1$ to produce her next .-..;on! . ·ee was ldnd of shy;Staples Aid of their lint one-on-one con,'US&tion. "Alld I WU\\'OOOffll\L 'ls hegoina to 1alk or i s b e going to be like Prinee?'
Booll>ie Prince wouldo't talk to me." Prine• co-wrote, produced and released two album$ for Staples: 1989's Time Waits For No One :md 1993'1 T'II• VoiC'I!. •1 ro� what I aald but itwas rean, tunnyand that broke upthe5byness," �•aald. ·then b e told m e abo111 how ht had accns 10 all of our: music
Bui tbe te!Nllion of 1\\-o uaditlonal.t - <>ttpAlong ,\fo,;es and WOflffljvl S<ll.lk>I'-rulJ), lloottd SUples. ") aid, 'Tl,udy, whett in theworid did)'OU gel 0-,onp?� Stlpltsaid. .,,,_ eonp &re olderthan me.• She laught<l. 'It wn. llke the Staple Singers all over 1.galn. The sound or the album is like wo IIOundcd back in the '601. There are three sonJ;S on the record Pops wrot<1. Thu was the best music o!,nyU!e. �otbu ,onp, I toldJdt, 'Don't you tblnk ""' need to poi a tolo In there and me1ch it out a little bil?' He aid. 'Mevis, whal 1.N! )'OU think· ing? Don't )'Ou remember theStiple Singoni no,•ff 111.ng a song over i,... or three minutes?' And I said, 'Tweedy, you 1N1 eo rigbL rm going to atay 001 ofyourbusinCL"S. • Staple. ald $he hoped her mu1lc -.'OU!d continue toliftand'"" people ho�. caperially wbclllhe t'OODOIDY Is •&&In I�on the brink and pe,> ple are taking t o the �ts to volee their d!Jcontent, particularly In the U.S. ·1 f;.,d lhis is wba.t rm suPl)Cdt'CIto be doing,"StaplllS said. "111e world ls so me...-.! up. It's good to..,. th""' ordl· nary people an, in downtown Chicago and OUI OD the st.reel4 I n Ntw Vork rather than just sitting down moping bteaUK they don'l ba-" ;ot,.. 8111 it's pab,Cul. '1'1le only way I c:an help Is throu,ch my music. It's all tumecfaround, a ll upside down, but I 1tlll talk to Dr. King, I still talk t o Pops and I talk 10 the Lord. I'm juSI hoping 1hlng• got
working ot • rocord e1orc when be \\'4$ younger and how h e loved Pops' guitar 011d then starlw 1alk ing about ht. family and his wile and bis wUe'a father and how he bad rnet Obarna year, a,o. Her father better." was a blind man and he had gone back homo and lold her, 'I've just �COIi mll<ed 10 the man who Is goillg to be "°f. Mfllnn�,...,..,nszrr sd Prc•ldtnl one clay.' And I tho11ght -.-{rlfll,-