Mavis Staples talks about new album, and biggest regret, ahead of Rialto show

Mavis Staples has lived a life in full.

She marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, performed at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, sang for President Barack Obama at the White House and has collaborated with Prince, Bob Dylan, The Band and many others. Dylan had such a deep love for her that he asked her father for her hand in marriage.

One of the defining singers of her generation, Staples began performing with her family gospel group in 1950, when she was still in elementary school in Chicago. Once she reached high school, The Staple Singers — father and guitarist Roebuck “Pops” Staples, Mavis and her siblings Cleotha, Yvonne and Pervis — went on the road and by the mid-’60s had crossed over into secular music and become one of the spiritual voices of the civil-rights movement.

The family became close to Dr. King, and became major figures in the civil-rights movement. The Staple Singers signed with Stax Records in 1968 and recorded a string of classic singles, including “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself.”

Staples is the lone surviving member of the family group, which was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2018.

Her latest album, Carry Me Home, is a recording of a gospel-flavored live performance at Levon Helm’s concert barn in Woodstock, New York in 2011. Helm, the drummer and singer for The Band, met Mavis Staples in 1976 when The Staple Singers joined The Band to perform “The Weight” for the film The Last Waltz. The Woodstock concert tapes sat on a shelf for more than a decade before the concert was released on an album.

Staples, 83, remains a road warrior and comes to the Rialto Center for the Arts for a concert Saturday night. Ahead of that performance, she talked to ArtsATL about her new album, her memories of Dr. King and Atlanta, and how music carried the message of the civil-rights movement.

ArtsATL: Your latest album is with Levon Helm, a marvelous Midnight Ramble show recorded in 2011 at his concert barn in Woodstock, New York. The Staple Singers’ version of “The Weight” was one of the group’s trademark songs. Everyone has their own idea what that song is actually about; since you’ve sung it hundreds of times, what’s your theory?

Mavis Staples: We first recorded “The Weight” in the late ’60s. It’s a classic. But my sisters and I could never figure out what it’s talking about. Those guys never told us either — Pops even asked. I always play it like a movie in my head, with different characters: There’s Chester and there’s Moses, from the Bible. People are traveling, looking for a room. Nazareth is from the Bible, too. But my brother, he always said the song was about drugs!

Arts ATL: What do you remember most about that Midnight Ramble show with Levon?

Staples: The best part of that was the week before the Ramble; we were at Levon’s house: my band, his band, his daughter (Amy Helm). His two dogs were running through the place; he’d joke around and sit behind his grandkid’s little drum kit he had in the house and play it. He just welcomed us in. Me and Yvonne sat with him and Amy, telling stories and talking about the old days. It was a special time.

ArtsATL: Did you know there was a recording of the show? How did you find out they wanted to release the concert and what was your reaction when you sat down to listen to the show?

Staples: Oh yes, we started playing that week and decided real quick to record the show. We had rehearsals leading up to the show. But then after, Levon took sick again and he passed the next year, and the recording got put up on a shelf. I never could bring myself to listen to it until years later, when his family felt ready to have it put out into the world. And then the memories all came back. I could hear my sister Yvonne on tape as well as Levon. I couldn’t help but cry.

ArtsATL: The Staple Singers were actively involved in the civil-rights movement. How did that involvement and your friendship with Dr. King impact the group’s music?

Staples: Back during the movement, my family saw Dr. King preach in 1963, and that night my father told us that if Dr. King could preach it, we could sing it. And that’s when Pops started to write songs like “Freedom Highway” and “Why? (Am I Treated So Bad)” and we sang “Blowing In The Wind.” So my family, we realized that the message could be in the music and reach people, whether we sang before a rally for Dr. King or at a nightclub or folk festival. And Dr. King, “Why? (Am I Treated So Bad)” was the song he would always ask my father to play.

ArtsATL: A lot of the gains made during the civil-rights movement and in the ’70s are under attack and eroding. Is it distressing to see the progress you fought for being walked back?

Staples: There’s just so much going on today in our world that is not right to me. We’re not loving each other the way that we should. You have a lot of people, they’re living in hate. I just pray that we can come together and love one another the way we should. What’s the harm in love? There’s nothing more beautiful. Shine your light on your neighbors; speak to your neighbor when you pass them by. We can all do this together.

ArtsATL: What is your best memory of Atlanta?

Staples: First thing that comes to mind is being there with my family. We started touring before I was out of high school. We were traveling the South, singing at churches and halls. By the time I graduated high school, I’d been all through the South: Richmond, New Orleans, Atlanta. It wasn’t like Chicago! My sister Yvonne even moved to Atlanta at one point before Pervis left the band and she came back. Those times still make me smile.

ArtsATL: Your dad had such a distinctive sound with his Fender guitars and tremolo. In the years since his death, you’ve had a long association with guitarist Rick Holmstrom. How did you find him and what drew you to his guitar playing?

Staples: We first met Rick when Yvonne and I were in L.A. to play a show and the band was on a different flight and they got diverted to another city. This was at the Santa Monica Pier, must have been 2006. Rick’s trio opened the show and they were good. And we needed musicians, so after they were done, we ran through a few songs backstage, and Rick and his guys went right back out there with us. Rick must have been studying his Pops, because he was playing those songs and I had to look to make sure it wasn’t Pops back there! He’s been with me ever since, I even gave him one of Pops’ Telecaster guitars.

ArtsATL: What advice would you give to your 18-year-old self?

Staples: Go ahead and marry Bob Dylan, gurl! Oh, and make sure you keep your publishing and get credit where it’s due.

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Scott Freeman is executive editor of ArtsATL. He is the author of four books, including the best-selling Midnight Riders: The Story of the Allman Brothers Band (which is in development for a feature film) and Otis! The Otis Redding Story. He has worked as an editor at Atlanta magazine and Creative Loafing. He was a reporter for the Macon Telegraph and News, as well as The Providence Journal.