|
Born on a “cold Mississippi Delta” in 1915, Roebuck Staples
knew enough to stay away from white folks. He also
understood that his father’s sharecropping life wasn’t his
own future. No, Roebuck was obsessed with the guitar at a
time when guitarists could make good money so, at age 21, he
moved to Chicago where he took a series of jobs to care for
the family he’d had by then.
Before long, there were four children to feed: a boy and
three girls (later, a fourth). There wasn’t much money to go
around, so the children sometimes spent school years with
their grandmother in Mississippi – but when the family was
together, Roebuck (now called Pops) taught his children to
sing.
Singing was something the Staples kids did often. Their
neighborhood friends included Lou Rawls, Johnnie Taylor, and
Sam Cooke; Muddy Waters, Nat “King” Cole, and Duke Ellington
also performed in the area, although Pops insisted that his
family stick to gospel songs. By the late 1940s, churches on
Chicago’s South Side were delighted to host the Staple
Singers, headed up by eight-year-old Mavis.
By 1953, Pops had recorded his family’s performance and was
shopping for record labels. When Mavis graduated from high
school in 1957, the family began touring. By the early
1960s, they’d performed many times in the South.
But the South wasn’t like it was when Pops left it during
the Depression years, and neither was music. Folk songs
“merged” with the civil rights movement by 1963. Pops
Staple, impressed with Dr. King’s work, started writing and
performing songs to reflect society then.
And thus, says Kot, “The Staple Singers were unabashedly
freedom fighters.”
Though it focused a little too much on dates and
discography, I was overall impressed here. I’ll Take You
There is a darn good story.
Whisking readers over a span of nearly 100 years, author
Greg Kot presents a roller-coaster ride of the highs and
lows of one of gospel and soul’s most iconic families. What
I loved the best about it was seeing other singers and
another time through the eyes of Mavis Staples, who is Kot’s
main interviewee. That brought me back to my parents’ living
room, a scratchy LP, and things I’d almost forgotten.
This is a great look at history, both musically and
culturally, and though the dates-and-discography part can
overwhelm, I think it’s worth reading. If you’re
particularly a fan of soul, R&B, or gospel, I’ll Take You
There is a book you’ll want to corner. |
