Mavis Staples, one of soul music's greatest voices, to perform Down by the Riverside
A legend of R&B and soul will make a stop in Rochester this Sunday as part of the 2022 Think Bank Down by the Riverside free outdoor concert series.
Three-time Grammy Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mavis Staples is scheduled to perform at Mayo Park for a show beginning at 7 p.m. Winona, Minn.-based blues artist Mike Munson will open for Staples.
Staples’ voice has been on the airwaves since the late 1950s when she and her family formed The Staple Singers. The group went on to have a string of hits in the 70s, including “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There.”
Their music also became synonymous with the civil rights movement, with the group performing at marches, and over time developing a close relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
As Staples told NPR in an interview from 2016, her father and the founder of The Staple Singers, Roebuck "Pops" Staples, would tell prospective songwriters: "If you want to write for the Staple Singers, read the headlines. We want to sing about what's happening in the world today, and if it's something bad, we want to sing a song to try to fix it."
Staples, now 83, is the final living member of the group. Over the years, she has continued to put out new music as a solo artist — including 2010’s You Are Not Alone, which earned her a Grammy Award for Best Americana Album. More recently, she was featured on Jon Bastiste’s We Are, which won the 2022 Grammy for Album of the Year.
But the accolades do not stop there. Staples has been inducted into the Blues and Rock and Roll Hall of Fames; performed at the inauguration for John F. Kennedy and in the White House for Barack Obama; been named one of the 100 best singers of all time by Rolling Stone; and collaborated with the likes of Prince, Bob Dylan, and Levon Helm of The Band.
Her latest album, in fact, is a recording of a 2011 studio session with Helm at his studio in Woodstock, N.Y. The album is one of the final recordings of Helm, the longtime drummer and vocalist for The Band, who died in 2012.
Here they are together performing The Band’s iconic 1968 song “The Weight,” which The Staple Singers also covered the same year:
— If you go —
The show starts at 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 24 at Mayo Park (located behind the Mayo Civic Center and Rochester Art Center).
Admission to all DBTR shows is free and open to the public.
Blankets, lawn chairs, and coolers are welcome.
There will be five local vendors on hand: Little Thistle Brewing, Bleu Duck Truck, Lil’ Fox Wagon, Eastwood Bar & Grill, and Carroll's Corn.
For a full summer concert lineup, visit Rochester Civic Music’s website.
