SD Blues Fest

Gospel, blues, R&B, folk and rock influences all find their way into the music of The Staple Singers, making the band like no other. Deeply soulful at every turn, the Staples are a profoundly influential American band. For that reason, no one was surprised when The Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in March. It seened rather inevitable, in fact, that Mavis Staples would survey the diversity of musical artists honored by the Hall of Fame and declare: "All of this music is related. We're first cousins with each other."

To appreciate how the Staples sound came to be, back up to Cleveland,Mississippi in 1930 where 15-year-old Roebuck "Pops" Staples was working the cotton fields on Dockery Farms. He worked six days a week, 12 hours a day on the plantation, earning about $3 per week. But late on Saturday's he'd visit the streetcorners of Dockery's company town where he heard the music of Charlie Patton, Willie Brown and Howlin' Wolf. Pops soon realized that his life would be considerably easier and more lucrative if he'd play blues guitar at Saturday night houseparties. "I didn't want to be a sinner by playing the blues," he says now, "but I could make $5 or $6 on a Saturday night. It didn't take me long to figure out that was a much better life."

His mother warned him, though, that a self-respecting Christian couldn't play the devil's music without sacrificing a bit of his soul. That's when Pops vowed to sing and play gospel.

By the time, Pops and Osceola Staples made their way to Chicago a few years later, gospel music was part of the family. While Osceola worked at night, Pops entertained his four children (Mavis, Yvonne, Cleotha and Pervis) with gospel music and taught them to sing together. The family sang in churches in Chicago and later around the Midwest, had a regular Sunday radio show and made their first record in 1953.

Pops became the first musician to bring a guitar through the doors of a Chicago church, yet his rebelious act was somehow tempered by the warmth and serenity of musician who had made his peace with God, whatever instrument he used.

The Staples broadened their audience in the early '60s when they adopted a more folk-oriented sound and started performing Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" and Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind." Later in the decade, they would even nudge their way into protest music with songs such as the Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth."

By the '70s, the group moved into the pop mainstream with its upbeat gospel songs such as "Heavy Makes You Happy," "Respect Yourself" and "I'll Take You There." By the time the group was performing with The Band in the fabled 1976 farewell "The Last Waltz" they had become one of the most popular gospel groups of all time.

Both Mavis and Pops recorded solo albums and the 1994 album "Father Father" won Pops a Grammy for best contemporary blues album. His stunning "Peace To The Neighborhood" featured Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Brown and Ry Cooder and earned his considerable critical acclaim. Mavis went on to experiment on a funk collaboration with the Artist Formerly Known As Prince and later recorded an album of spirituals and gospel songs with Lucky Peterson, star of the inaugural San Diego Blues Festival.

Maybe the best testament to the musical power of The Staple Singers is the wide respect they enjoy throughout the music industry. At their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this spring, fellow Hall of Famers jammed the stage just to get the chance to play alongside the Staples.