For over six decades, Mavis Staples has spoken out against injustices with her music and activism. Both as a solo artist and a member of the legendary THE STAPLE SINGERS, Staples has made countless contributions to the canon of socially conscious music.
Still going strong at 82 years of age, she released the album, “Live in London,” on February 8, 2019. A follow-up, “We Get By,” on May 24, 2019 were we pick today's tune "Change" from, the album’s lead single is a bluesy call to action which highlights issues such as inequality and gun violence (“Fingers on the trigger around here/ Bullets flying, mothers crying / We gotta change around here”).
Mavis Staples is an important artist whose music bridges the gap between the past and present. She continues to pave the way for current and future generations of socially conscious musicians.
During the album release she released a statement, Staples said, "These songs are delivering such a strong message. We truly need to make a change if we want this world to be better."
The album's cover features the photograph "Outside Looking In" by Gordon Parks from his 1956 photo essay The Restraints: Open and Hidden.
Today's tune "Change", taken from "We Get By", the fourteenth studio album by American R&B, soul and gospel singer Mavis Staples. The clip is a live performance "Live from Here with Chris Thile" October 26, 2019, enjoy!
In February 2016 the 76 yrs old lady and still rockin' Mavis Staples album "Livin' on a High Note" was released, Produced by M. Ward the album features songs written specifically for Staples by Nick Cave, Justin Vernon, tUnE-yArds, Neko Case, Aloe Blacc, and others. Discussing the album Staples said:
I’ve been singing my freedom songs and I wanted to stretch out and sing some songs that were new. I told the writers I was looking for some joyful songs. I want to leave something to lift people up; I’m so busy making people cry, not from sadness, but I’m always telling a part of history that brought us down and I’m trying to bring us back up. These songwriters gave me a challenge. They gave me that feeling of, ‘Hey, I can hang! I can still do this!’ There’s a variety, and it makes me feel refreshed and brand new. Just like Benjamin Booker wrote on the opening track, ‘I got friends and I got love around me, I got people, the people who love me.’ I’m living on a high note, I’m above the clouds. I’m just so grateful. I must be the happiest old girl in the world. Yes, indeed.
Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress and civil rights activist. She has recorded and performed with her family's band The Staple Singers, and also as a solo artist.
Today's tune "Take Us Back" is taken from the fifteenth studio album "Livin' on a High Note", released in February 2016 under Epitaph Records. The clip is from The Late Show, Feb 23, 2016
Upcoming Tour Dates:
Apr 15 Coachella Indio, CA Sold Out
Apr 22 Coachella Indio, CA Sold Out
Apr 23 Cache Creek Casino Brooks, CA
Apr 29 Beale Street Music Festival Memphis, TN
May 01 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest New Orleans, LA
May 04 Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center Ft Lauderdale, FL
May 06 Kravis Center West Palm Beach, FL
May 08 Lyric Theatre Birmingham, AL
May 19 Wendy Williamson Auditorium Anchorage, AK
May 21 Juneau Jazz and Classics Juneau, AK
May 29 Strawberry Music Festival Grass Valley, CA
Jun 04 Chateau St. Michelle Winery w/ Bob Dylan Woodinville, WA
Jun 05 Chateau St. Michelle Winery w/ Bob Dylan Woodinville, WA
Jun 07 Cuthbert Ampitheater w/ Bob Dylan Eugene, OR
Jun 09 Greek Theatre w/ Bob Dylan Berkeley, CA
Jun 10 Greek Theatre-U.C. Berkeley Berkeley, CA
Jun 11 Santa Barbara Bowl w/ Bob Dylan Santa Barbara, CA
Jun 13 Humphrey's w/ Bob Dylan San Diego, CA
Jun 14 Humphrey's w/ Bob Dylan San Diego, CA
Jun 16 Shrine Auditorium w/ Bob Dylan Los Angeles, CA
Jun 19 Red Rocks Ampitheatre w/ Bob Dylan Morrison, CO
Jun 21 Starlight Theatre w/ Bob Dylan Kansas City, MO
Jun 22 Pinewood Bowl Theatre w/ Bob Dylan Lincoln, NE
Jun 24 Ravinia Festival w/ Bob Dylan Highland Park, IL
Jun 25 The Lawn at White River w/ Bob Dylan Indianapolis, IN
Jun 26 Carl Black Chevy Woods Amphitheater w/ Bob Dylan Nashville, TN
Jun 28 Fraze Pavilion w/ Bob Dylan Kettering, OH
Jun 29 Toledo Zoo Amphitheater w/ Bob Dylan Toledo, OH
Jun 30 Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park w/ Bob Dylan Lewiston, NY
Jul 02 Tanglewood w/ Bob Dylan Lenox, MA
Jul 03 Foxwoods w/ Bob Dylan New London, CT
Jul 05 Filene Center at Wolf Trap w/ Bob Dylan Vienna, VA
Jul 06 Filene Center at Wolf Trap w/ Bob Dylan Vienna, VA
Jul 08 Forest Hills Stadium w/ Bob Dylan Forest Hills, NY
Jul 12 CMAC w/ Bob Dylan Canandaigua, NY
Jul 13 Mann Center for the Performing Arts w/ Bob Dylan Philadelphia, PA
Jul 14 Blue Hills Bank Pavilion w/ Bob Dylan Boston, MA
Jul 16 Thompsons Point w/ Bob Dylan Portland, ME
Jul 17 Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion w/ Bob Dylan Gilford, NH
Jul 31 Chateau Ste Michelle Winery Woodinville, WA
Aug 12 Eaux Claires Festival (August 12-13) Eau Claire, WI
Sep 17 Arts Commons Jack Singer Concert Hall Calgary, Canada
Today I am out at the Christmas party, so I let my daughter "N" choose todays tune, the only criteria was, not too much dance plz, given that she is a true popish girl.
So she tells me that this one you might like. :)
The youngster is known simply as Hozier (Andrew Hozier-Byrne), who is an Irish musician from Bray, County Wicklow. In 2013 he released his debut EP Take Me to Church and his second EP From Eden in 2014, with his debut studio album Hozier released in Ireland in September 2014 and globally in October 2014.
Todays tune "Take Me to Church", released as a single in 2013 and taken from the EP Take Me to Church. It is also the first track of his self-titled debut album.
Sunday, time for a classic, today we put some focus on Nina Simone, she was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music. Simone aspired to become a classical pianist while working in a broad range of styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.
Born the sixth child of a preacher's family in North Carolina, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist. Her musical path changed direction after she was denied a scholarship to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, despite a well-received audition. Simone was later told by someone working at Curtis that she was rejected because she was black. When she began playing in a small club in Philadelphia to fund her continuing musical education and become a classical pianist she was required to sing as well. She was approached for a recording by Bethlehem Records, and her rendering of "I Loves You, Porgy" was a hit in the United States in 1958. Over the length of her career Simone recorded more than 40 albums, mostly between 1958—when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue—and 1974.
Her musical style arose from a fusion of gospel and pop songs with classical music, in particular with influences from her first inspiration, Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied with her expressive jazz-like singing in her characteristic contralto. She injected as much of her classical background into her music as possible to give it more depth and quality, as she felt that pop music was inferior to classical. Her intuitive grasp on the audience–performer relationship was gained from a unique background of playing piano accompaniment for church revivals and sermons regularly from the early age of six years old.
In the early 1960s, she became involved in the civil rights movement and the direction of her life shifted once again. Simone's music was highly influential in the fight for equal rights in the United States. In later years, she lived abroad, finally settling in France in 1992. She received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2000 and was a fifteen-time Grammy Award nominee over the course of her career.
Todays tune "Ain't Got No/I Got Life" is a 2:17 single by the American songwriter Nina Simone. The song also featured on Nuff Said (1968). It is a medley of two songs from the musical Hair, with lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. The song charted at #2 in the UK and at #1 in The Netherlands. The song helped Simone gain pop-popularity under a new, younger audience, and became a standard in her repertoire.
Listen to ”Hozier - Take Me To Church" on Spotify 
