We'll Never Turn Back is a studio album by American gospel and soul singer Mavis Staples, released April 24, 2007 on ANTI- Records. Recorded in 2007 and produced by roots rock and blues musician Ry Cooder, it is a concept album with lyrical themes relating to the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Upon its release, We'll Never Turn Back received positive reviews from most music critics. It was also named one of the best albums of 2007 by several music writers and publications.

Reception

Critical response

We'll Never Turn Back received positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 76, based on 14 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2009-06-11. Allmusic writer Thom Jurek gave it three-and-a-half out of five stars and commended Staples for her vocal ability and performance, while calling it "the kind of album we need at the moment, one that doesn't flinch from the tradition but doesn't present it as a museum piece either".Jurek, Thom. . Allmusic. Retrieved on 2009-11-08. The Boston Globes Renée Graham praised Staples's singing and additional songwriting on the album, stating "Mavis Staples doesn't so much sing a song as baptize it in truth".Graham, Renée. . The Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2009-11-08. Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian praised her performance, stating "Staples is magnificent… Her voice is in tatters by the closing 'Jesus Is On the Mainline', and the memory lingers long after those ragged final notes".Sullivan, Caroline. . The Guardian. Retrieved on 2009-11-08. Entertainment Weeklys Will Hermes gave We'll Never Turn Back a B+ rating and described Staples's voice as "rich, weathered, and full of fire".Hermes, Will. . Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2009-11-08. Evening Standard writer Pete Clark gave it four out of four stars and praised Ry Cooder's production.Clark, Pete. . Evening Standard. Retrieved on 2009-11-08.

Jon Pareles of The New York Times called the album "bluesy, unvarnished, gutsy and knowing", and he described its music as "righteous, not self-righteous, and never far from roots in the Mississippi mud".Pareles, Jon. . The New York Times. Retrieved on 2009-11-08. However, PopMatters writer Lester Feder expressed that its "musical sophistication" can overshadow Staples's lyrics, stating "the album’s sound is so easy on the ears that it is extremely tempting to let it drown out the challenging sentiments of her words".Feder, Lester. . PopMatters. Retrieved on 2009-11-08. In his consumer guide for MSN Music, music critic Robert Christgau gave We'll Never Turn Back an A- rating,Christgau, Robert. "Review: We'll Never Turn Back". MSN Music: May 2007. on 2009-11-08. indicating "the kind of garden-variety good record that is the great luxury of musical micromarketing and overproduction. Anyone open to its aesthetic will enjoy more than half its tracks". Christgau praised Staples's performance and wrote "she doesn't merely revive rousing old songs--she brings their moral passion into the present". Both USA Today and the Chicago Sun-Times gave it ratings of three-and-a-half out of four stars.Gardner, Elysa. . USA Today. Retrieved on 2009-11-08. Jim DeRogatis of the latter publication wrote that Staples "infuses the material with a passion and urgency undiminished by the passing of time",DeRogatis, Jim. "". Chicago Sun-Times: April 29, 2007. and he discussed the relevance of the album's themes to current events, stating:

The Washington Posts Bill Friskics-Warren shared a similar sentiment in his review, writing "Staples reinvests… with the moral authority to speak to social and economic injustices that persist today" and "rarely have 'remakes' sounded so tonic or inspired".Friskics-Warren, Bill. . The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2009-11-08. The album received an A rating from the Boston Herald, which wrote "In the course of celebrating a landmark, Staples and Cooder make one of their own".Columnist. "". Boston Herald: 24. April 23, 2007. We'll Never Turn Back also received perfect ratings from The Independent and NOW magazine.Gill, Andy. . The Independent. Retrieved on 2009-11-08.Perlich, Tim. . NOW. Retrieved on 2009-11-08. LA Weeklys Ernest Hardy gave it a rave review and lauded the album's sound, writing "Powerfully raw, suggestive blues is the foundation of the CD, but that root allows the collaborators to sprawl through other genres, reminding you of the connections between them all — blues and gospel, spirituals and jazz".Hardy, Ernest. . LA Weekly. Retrieved on 2009-11-08.

Accolades

We'll Never Turn Back was named one of the best albums of 2007 by several music writers and publications, including PopMatters (number 11) and The Austin Chronicle (number five).Staff. . PopMatters. Retrieved on 2009-11-08.. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2009-11-08. The album was ranked number 48 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007.Robert Christgau, David Fricke, Christian Hoard, Rob Sheffield (December 17, 2007). Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-20. Los Angeles Times columnist Todd Martens named We'll Never Turn Back the second best album of the year,Martens, Todd. . Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2009-11-08. and Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune ranked it number one on his list of the best albums of 2007.Kot, Greg. . Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 2009-11-08.

Personnel

Credits for We'll Never Turn Back adapted from liner notes.. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2009-11-08.

* Aisha Ayers – production assistant

* David Bartlett – photography

* Joachim Cooder – percussion, arranger, producer

* Ry Cooder – guitar, mandolin, arranger, producer

* Mike Elizondo – bass, piano

* Betty Fikes – background vocals

* Bernie Grundman – mastering

* Rutha Harris – background vocals

* Andy Kaulkin – executive producer

* Jim Keltner – drums

* Rep. John Lewis – liner notes

* Pete Martinez – assistant

* Charles Neblett – background vocals

* Martin Pradler – engineer, mixing

* Joshua Douglas Smith – assistant

* Mavis Staples – arranger, vocals, author

* Chris Strong – portraits

* Susan Titelman – session photographer

Chart history

References

Artist/Band Information

Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer and civil rights activist who recorded with The Staple Singers, her family's band.

Biography

Mavis Staples began her career with her family group in 1950. Initially singing locally at churches and appearing on a weekly radio show, the Staples scored a hit in 1956 with "Uncloudy Day" for the Vee-Jay label. When Mavis graduated from what is now Paul Robeson High School in 1957, The Staple Singers took their music on the road. Led by family patriarch Roebuck "Pops" Staples on guitar and including the voices of Mavis and her siblings Cleo, Yvonne, and Pervis, the Staples were called "God's Greatest Hitmakers."

With Mavis' voice and Pops' songs, singing, and guitar playing, the Staples evolved from enormously popular gospel singers (with recordings on United and Riverside as well as Vee-Jay) to become the most spectacular and influential spirituality-based group in America. By the mid-1960s The Staple Singers, inspired by Pops' close friendship with Martin Luther King, Jr., became the spiritual and musical voices of the civil rights movement. They covered contemporary pop hits with positive messages, including Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and a version of Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth."

During a December 20, 2008 appearance on National Public Radio's news show "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me," when Staples was asked about her past personal relationship with Dylan, she admitted they "were good friends, yes indeed" and that he had asked her father for her hand in marriage.

The Staples sang "message" songs like "Long Walk to D.C." and "When Will We Be Paid?," bringing their moving and articulate music to a huge number of young people. The group signed to Stax Records in 1968, joining their gospel harmonies and deep faith with musical accompaniment from members of Booker T. and the MGs. The Staple Singers hit the Top 40 eight times between 1971 and 1975, including two No. 1 singles, "I'll Take You There" and "Let's Do It Again," and a No. 2 single "Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas?"

Staples made her first solo foray while at Epic Records with The Staple Singers releasing a lone single "Crying in the Chapel" to little fanfare in the late 1960s. The single was finally re-released on the 1994 Sony Music collection Lost Soul. Her first solo album would not come until a 1969 self-titled release for the Stax label. After another Stax release, Only for the Lonely, in 1970, she released a soundtrack album, A Piece of the Action, on Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label. A 1984 album (also self-titled) preceded two albums under the direction of rock star Prince; 1989's Time Waits for No One, followed by 1993's The Voice, which People magazine named one of the Top Ten Albums of 1993. Her recent 1996 release, Spirituals & Gospels: A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson was recorded with keyboardist Lucky Peterson. The recording honours Mahalia Jackson, a close family friend and a significant influence on Mavis Staples' life.

Mavis Staples 2006.jpgthumbleft320pxStaples singing during the 2006 NEA National Heritage Fellows concert.

Staples made a major national return with the release of the album

Have a Little Faith on Chicago's Alligator Records, produced by Jim Tullio, in 2004. The album featured spiritual music, some of it semi-acoustic.

In 2004, Staples contributed to a Verve release by legendary jazz/rock guitarist, John Scofield. The album entitled, That's What I Say, was a tribute to the great Ray Charles, and led to a live tour featuring Mavis, John Scofield, pianist Gary Versace, drummer Steve Hass, and bassist Rueben Rodriguez.

A new album for Anti- Records entitled We'll Never Turn Back was released on April 24, 2007. The Ry Cooder-produced concept album focuses on Gospel songs of the civil rights movement and also included two new original songs by Cooder.

Her voice has been sampled by some of the biggest selling hip-hop artists, including Salt 'N' Pepa, Ice Cube and Ludacris. Mavis Staples has recorded with a wide variety of musicians, from her friend Bob Dylan (with whom she was nominated for a 2003 Grammy Award in the "Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals" category for their duet on "Gotta Change My Way of Thinking" from the album Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan) to The Band, Ray Charles, Nona Hendryx, George Jones, Natalie Merchant, Ann Peebles, and Delbert McClinton. She has provided vocals on current albums by Los Lobos and Dr. John, and she appears on tribute albums to such artists as Johnny Paycheck, Stephen Foster and Bob Dylan.

In 2003, Staples performed in Memphis at the Orpheum Theater alongside a cadre of her fellow former Stax Records stars during "Soul Comes Home," a concert held in conjunction with the grand opening of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music at the original site of Stax Records, and appears on the CD and DVD that were recorded and filmed during the event. In 2004, she returned as guest artist for the Stax Music Academy's SNAP! Summer Music Camp and performed, again at the Orpheum and to rave reviews, with 225 of the academy's students. In June 2007, she again returned to the venue to perform at the Stax 50th Anniversary Concert to Benefit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, produced by Concord Records, who now owns and has revived the Stax Records label.

Staples was a judge for the 3rd and 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.

MavisStaples KBF2008 CallingOnTheSun.jpgthumbright400pxStaples singing at the 2008 Kitchener Blues Festival

In 2009, Mavis Staples, along with Patty Griffin and The Tri-City Singers released a version of the song “Waiting For My Child To Come Home” on the compilation album Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration.

On October 30th 2010, Staples performed at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear alongside singer Jeff Tweedy.

Staples also performed at the 33rd Kennedy Center Honors, singing in a tribute to Paul McCartney, an honoree

On February 13, 2011, Mavis Staples won her first Grammy award in the category for Best Americana Album for You Are Not Alone. In her acceptance speech, a shocked and crying Staples said "This has been a long time coming."

Film and television

During her career Staples has appeared in many films and television shows, including The Last Waltz, Graffiti Bridge, Wattstax, New York Undercover, Soul Train, Soul to Soul, The Psychiatrist, and The Cosby Show.

Discography

Albums

* Mavis Staples (Volt, 1969)

* Only for the Lonely (Stax, 1970)

* A Piece of the Action (Curtom, 1977)

* Oh What a Feeling (Warner, 1979)

* Mavis Staples (HDH, 1984)

* Don't Change Me Now (Volt/Ace, 1988)

* Time Waits for No One (Paisley Park, 1989)

* The Voice (Paisley Park, 1993)

* Spirituals & Gospel: Dedicated to Mahalia Jackson with Lucky Peterson (Verve, 1996)

* Have a Little Faith (Alligator, 2004)

* We'll Never Turn Back (Anti-, 2007) produced by Ry Cooder

*Live: Hope at the Hideout (Anti-, 2008)

*You Are Not Alone (Anti-, 2010) produced by Jeff Tweedy

Singles

* "Crying in the Chapel" b/w "Nothing Lasts Forever" (Epic)

* "I Have Learned to Do Without You" b/w "Since I Fell For You"

* "Endlessly" b/w "Don't Change Me Now" (Volt)

* "A House Is Not a Home" (Volt)

* "A Piece of the Action" b/w "Til Blossoms Bloom" (Curtom)

* The Weight on the The Last Waltz (1976)

* "Oh What a Feeling" (Warner Bros., 1979)

* "Tonight I Feel Like Dancing" (Warner Bros., 1979)

* "Love Gone Bad" (1984)

* "Show Me How It Works" (from Wildcats) (Warner Bros., 1986)

* "20th Century Express" b/w "All The Discomforts Of Home" (Paisley Park, 1989)

* "Time Waits for No One" (Paisley Park, 1989)

* "Jaguar" (Paisley Park, 1989)

* "Melody Cool" (Paisley Park, 1991)

* "The Voice" (Paisley Park, 1993)

* "Blood Is Thicker Than Time" (Paisley Park, 1993)

Other

* "Christmas Vacation" (Theme song from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation) (1989)

*Johnny's Blues: A Tribute To Johnny Cash (Northern Blues, 2003)Staples does a version of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken". The 1935 song adaptation by The Carter Family was recorded by Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins on The Survivors Live (Columbia, 1982). See ; www.secondhandsongs.com. See also Can the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By).

* "Waiting For My Child To Come Home" with Patty Griffin and The Tri-City Singers, on Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration (2009)

Footnotes

References

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