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Mavis Staples

Preacher's Daughter: Class Consciousness in Mavis Staples' "You Are not Alone"

Music post by Kristin Rawls on September 9, 2011 - 9:41am; tagged Angela Davis, black feminists, Christianity, Mavis Staples, Preacher's Daughter, religion, soul music.

Mavis Staples—gospel singer, soul artist and Civil Rights activist—is nothing short of a living legend. She started singing gospel with her family in the 1950s and had a successful Stax career as front woman for the Staple Singers. Though the family specialized in gospel, Staples' raw vocals and the band's bluesy arrangements endeared them to secular and religious audiences alike.

At seventy-two, she shows no signs of slowing down. Last year, she released Grammy-winning gospel album, You Are Not Alone, in a collaboration with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy. It featured a handful of newly arranged old gospel songs as well as new ones like these (penned by Tweedy): 

("You Are Not Alone," lyrics here.)

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