The First Lady's Homie

You wouldn't know it speaking with her, but Mavis Staples has been through a lot this year. Firstly, just weeks before she hit Australia for her return to Bluesfest over Easter, her sister Cleotha sadly passed away. Then, just weeks ago, she was forced to cancel her entire UK tour as she recovers from some not-so-minor surgery.

But it will take far more than that to bring down the 73-year-old soul legend.

“I am so happy, I tell ya,” she beams down the line from her Chicago home.

Among the hardships, she has reason to be positive. Her recently release LP One True Vine – her second collaboration with Wilco mastermind and fellow Chicagoan Jeff Tweedy – is a triumphant, enriching musical experience.

“I told Tweedy, 'We just went to a higher plain',” Staples says. “The songs, when we were doing them in the studio, I knew that this was special, this is a special CD. All of these songs, I have lived these songs. That's the good part of being 70 years old, I've lived through these times.

“It's more personal, more intimate… we wanted a different sound. We didn't want it to sound like the first album, so we went from the electric guitars to the acoustic. I love that acoustic sound.”

Mavis Staples was one of the dominant voices in the band started by her father Roebuck “Pops” Staples, The Staple Singers, and with that group became one of the most important voices of the American Civil Rights movement. Mavis' sisters Cleotha, Pervis and Yvonne (who is currently a backing singer in Mavis' touring band), made up the rest of the band.

Jeff Tweedy and his son Spencer provide all of the instrumentation on One True Vine, and given Staples' history of playing music in a family environment, it seemed fitting.

“I felt back home again, I felt like I was singing with my family,” Staples says. “I watched little Spencer, Tweedy's little son on the drums, I watched he and Tweedy interact off each other, Tweedy would look at him with that proud look on his face and Spencer would look at him to get a compliment. I thought it was just beautiful, it reminded me of me and my father. Little Spencer came to me and said 'Grandma Mavis do you mind if I play on your CD' and I'm like 'No I don't mind if you play!' because I knew he's a good drummer, he has his own band!”

The release features a variety of songs written by the likes of Nick Lowe, Funkadelic, Minnesota slow core indie rockers Low, Pops Staples and, as is the case with the album's title track, Tweedy himself.

“One True Vine… I said 'Tweedy, how do you write these songs? How do these lyrics come to you?' I tell you, it's just awesome. You can't just jump on a Jeff Tweedy song and start singing, you have to look at it and figure out what he's talking about. But I don't want to ask him what he's talking about, I want to figure it out myself.

“I listened to Jesus Wept (another Tweedy song), I was sitting there on the couch and tears were just streaming down my face. Tweedy looked over 'Mavis, are you crying?' and I said 'Tweedy, you're not supposed to be looking at me!'. He said 'Oh Mavis, I'm sorry' but I said 'That's just the way this song is hitting me. But you might have to change the title to Mavis Wept!'”

After releasing the acclaimed 2010 LP You Are Not Alone, Staples raved about how comfortable an environment Tweedy had set up for the sessions in his famous Wilco Loft. But this time around that comfort was enhanced thanks to the relationship the two artists had now fostered.

“It was even better, because both of us have gotten to know each other better,” Staples explains. “I like to clown and Tweedy is a sarcastic dude. It was even a better feeling, we were even more relaxed, because of the fact we knew each other so much better; we had been going to lunch together, visiting each other, going on stage together – it was just a super fun time.”

That first album the two artists worked on together brought Staples to a whole new audience, she says, and she gets a thrill showing them what a 73 year old woman can do when she gets going.

“I call them the Tweedy Gang – those young college kids,” she laughs. “You can tell when they're Tweedy's audience, because they are fresh young kids and I get tickled sometimes because they're standing there and looking at me and they can't believe it. 'She's in her 70s!' When I get started they stand there looking puzzled and then they loosen up and they're having big fun, yes indeed.”

One of the other highlights of Staples' year was a recent performance at the White House where Memphis soul music was honoured in a star studded night of incredible soul performances.

“We left Australia and we went straight to the White House,” Staples tells.

“That was just the highlight of my year. It was great to see all of my friends who were on Stax Records; Booker T, Eddie Floyd, Steve Cropper…

“I had a workshop with Michelle [Obama] earlier that day; myself, Justin Timberlake, Charlie Musselwhite and Sam Moore, we all had this workshop. Michelle when she came in, she said 'Oh Mavis!'  and I said 'Hey there, homie!' and then Justin Timberlake turns around and says 'Did  I just hear you call the First Lady 'homie'?' I said 'Yeah! She's from Chicago' He say, 'But, Mavis, she's the First Lady'. 'But she's still my homie!' She didn't mind!”

Staples is taking her naturally positive attitude into very important knee surgery in the next couple of weeks.

“I don't have any more cartilage – it's so painful, it's so painful. Everyone thinks I'm so strong that I can deal with this pain, but when I'm singing I'm not thinking about. When I'm not singing I have to deal with it,” she says.

“I called the doctor myself; I said 'Dr Blackman, I need a knee surgery. I need a new knee!' It will take about six weeks to heal and I can be on back to work; we have a big festival here in Chicago in September that we'll be doing.

“But I'm not going to try to go too fast, if I don't feel like I can make it I'll tell the band that they just have to wait on me. There's no sense in going out there before time. I can't be half-steppin' on my people. On my fans.”

One True Vine is out now through Anti-/Warner