Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Mavis Staples



I got this cover signed at a free concert in New York City in the summer of 2007. After the show, Mavis sat at a table and signed autographs for dozens of fans. A helper collected and stacked each item that folks had brought for her to sign. When she got to this record, she smiled and said "Whose is this? That's cool!" Ordinarily, when an artist is part of a group but performing solo, I prefer to get a solo album signed, provided one exists. In this case, the We'll Get Over album cover design is so beautiful to begin with, that it doesn't bother me that this is a Staple Singers record and it only has one signature.

Interestingly, Yvonne Staples sang with Mavis on stage, but chose not to sign autographs. I didn't mind since I only had this record with me and it came out right before she joined the group.

3 comments:

  1. She's right; it is a really cool layout. How did they sound?

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  2. I thought they sounded great. I thought I was really going to miss the Pops Staples guitar sound, but they had a guy in the band who could do it pretty well. Mavis's voice is lower, but it still sounds good. The crowd was really into the music, which says something since it was a free show. Mavis had just released the We'll Never Turn Back album, so she was excited to play the songs on that record.

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  3. That is a fantastic cover. It would definitely adorn a wall in my house.

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