An Evening with Mavis Staples

Presented by Crispus Attucks Cultural Center

It's no wonder that the Chicago Tribune calls Mavis Staples an "American treasure".

From the delta-inflected gospel sound she helped create in the 1950s ("Uncloudy Day"), to the engaged protest of the civil rights era ("Freedom Highway"), and then, amazingly, on pop radio in the 1970s with a series of chart hits (“I’ll Take You There,” “Respect Yourself,” "Lets Do It Again")--through all these, Mavis carried on, her warm embrace of a voice the only constant.

On their second collaboration, the Grammy-nominated 2013 album "One True Vine," the legendary singer and her producer, Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy, have crafted a gospel album for the 21st century. On the record, Mavis gives voice to something new in her repertoire, something deeper and more resonant with our times.  Where her Stax-era hits spoke for a growing black social consciousness, and her seventies collaborations with The Band gave spiritual weight to the rediscovery of traditional American music, Jeff Tweedy has crafted a pulpit from which Mavis lends her voice to a search for grace. One True Vine is an album that will both surprise longtime fans and solidify her position at the helm of American music.

Recently, recognition of Mavis’ unique role in American music has been growing beyond her longtime fans, dipping into the wider world of pop as she performs alongside Justin Timberlake at the White House tribute to Memphis Soul, or with Elton John in a show-stealing Grammy tribute to Levon Helm of the Band.

Rolling Stone listed her as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.