Mavis Staples: I’ll Take You There – An All-Star Concert Celebration was a once in a lifetime event created, filmed, recorded, and produced by Blackbird Presents at Chicago’s historic Auditorium Theatre. The historic night brought some of the biggest names in music together to honor the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and American icon. Throughout an unparalleled career that spans over six decades, Staples’ soulful songs of justice and equality have become a soundtrack for the Civil Rights Movement, and inspired countless other artists and activists.
For six decades, Mavis Staples has been the solid rock of American music. Alongside the family group she is so identified with, the Staple Singers, she has managed to transform herself as she goes, yet never alter. From the Delta-inflected gospel sound she helped create in the 1950s, to the engaged protest of the civil rights era, and then, amazingly, on pop radio in the Stax era with a series of soul anthems, from “I’ll Take You There” to “Respect Yourself,” Staples carried on, her warm embrace of a voice the only constant. How many musicians can claim this: to exist outside a scene, outside genre, yet weaving themselves into the fabric of soul, R&B, jazz, gospel, rock and blues? Many of the maverick names that come to mind are composers as well; that Staples has created her legacy as an interpreter of others makes her achievement all the more impressive. She gives voice to others; more than that, she gives voice to entire movements and to eras. For more information about Mavis Staples visit mavisstaples.com.
