We'll Never Turn Back – Mavis Staples

RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK

We'll Never Turn Back – Mavis Staples

This week's Recommendation of the Week is from the Queen of Gospel Soul, and one of my favorite singers ever. I love Mavis Staples and am always in complete awe of her vocal power and range. As far as celebrities go, she is one of my favorite humans ever to live.  We’ll Never Turn Back by Mavis Staples, released in 2007, is a soul powerhouse, a social justice commandment, and a gospel revival of the highest order. It's an album that has been quite overlooked, but is as powerful, soulful, and socially relevant as any album ever recorded.

What can I say about Mavis Staples. How can you not love her? The magnitude of her presence is unmatched. She is small, but her resounding voice can move mountains with ease. I am not sure that there has never been a more powerful, more prominent singing voice.  

From her early days, it was clear she was born to sing. At the young age of 9, with her family Gospel group, The Staple Singers, she possessed a command that caused her church congregation to cry, because they were so moved by her. This scared her, but she was assured by her father “Pops” Staples that she had the gift that very few have ever received. With that gift came the duty and responsibility to uplift the masses in song, and she has spent her almost ninety years doing just that.

Roebuck “Pops” Staples, the patriarch of the Staples music family, grew up on a plantation in the south. He learned to play guitar from Charley Patton, and played with Robert Johnson and other legends of Blues’ folklore. When the opportunity came, he, like so many others in the Great Migration, moved his family north to Chicago. The Great Migration was a response to the cruel, racist, oppressive Jim Crow laws that ruled the south. So many black Americans moved their families from places like Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas and Georgia to northern cities like Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia for a better chance at a fairer existence. They still faced harsh, cruel racism, but were less likely to lose their lives over the color of their skin. The KKK didn’t rule the north like it did with its stranglehold on the south. Sadly, in some ways, that stranglehold still exists, and as we’ve seen, those racist, bigoted, backwards ideas have invaded and infested the highest offices of our country.

Pops had a unique style of guitar playing, one that would prove extremely influential for generations. He infused tremolo, an echoey, trembling, reverberating tone into very sparse yet powerful guitar melodies that gave the perfect backdrop to very powerful words. When Mavis was a small child, she could sing like she was a whole church choir. He recognized this talent and knew that starting a family Gospel group to help bring hope, peace, and community, was his calling. The Staple Singers consisted of Pops and his children, Mavis, Cleotha, Percy, and Yvonne. Mavis was the powerhouse, and the feature to the group. Her deep, powerful booming voice could shake anyone to their core. For example, and I am certainly not a religious person, but if you want to be moved by the “Good Word”, give a listen to their rendition of the Gospel hymn, “Sit Down Servant”. It will bring you to speechless tears and leave you in complete awe. This is the song that influenced Bob Dylan, who first heard it when he was 9 or 10, to strive for a life in music. It is a power that really can’t be described, and when you consider that Mavis was all of 13 when she sang, it’ll blow your mind!

As the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, largely due to the work of Martin Luther King Jr, The Staple Singers became the anthemic soundtrack to the movement. They were Martin Luther King Jr’s favorite musicians, and Mavis’s voice was his most favorite. “Freedom Highway”, their Civil Rights power anthem can still be heard in every demonstration and social justice movement that has happened since. As the years passed, and The Civil Rights Movement and The Black Pride movements were well underway and taking hold in demonstrations across America, The Staple Singers would release anthem after anthem, fueling the power of these movements. Mavis became the voice of freedom, and she will forever be synonymous with the undying light, fight, and power behind the strive for equality.

On We’ll Never Turn Back, she reflects upon those younger days of the movement and provides just as much, if not more, power to them. She has been at this for almost 70 years, and she’s still out there performing at an unmatched level. I was so grateful and fortunate to have witnessed the power in person, when I saw her perform in 2024, a moment I will cherish for the rest of my life.

The songs on this album are just as relevant today as they were in the 1960s. They are timeless because, sadly, the fight for equality continues. Mavis brings us hope like no other singer on Earth! She can still move you to tears and rock you to your core. She is a truly remarkable performer and one that you’ll never forget if you ever have the privilege to witness.

When I listen to this album, I feel completely moved and empowered. She can uplift from the darkest depths, and make you feel that anything is possible. Her voice and her music are timeless, and you feel a part of a heritage, a legacy of music and community that is profoundly unfathomable. It spans many generations and continues to do so. I will always be in complete awe of her. She is the embodiment of the power of change, hope and unity, the eternal soundtrack of every social justice movement, and a spirit that simply cannot and will not ever be moved or silenced.  It is not often that a singer can evoke such power and timeless importance.

In essence, Mavis Staples is a gift to humanity 

In our darkest times, when we are searching for guidance, hopefulness, and we are trying to keep our composure, we can always find comfort, strength, and solace in Mavis Staples. Our world is suffering and fighting a battle for existence, and every movement needs an empowering soundtrack. Mavis Staples is always the answer, our harmonic muse, our song of strength that can always keep us together and keep our eyes on the prize

Essential Track: “We Shall Not Be Moved”