Mavis Staples Brings It All Back Home

Mavis Staples- Live: Hope at the Hideout (Anti-)

Without any intro or fanfare the band, including Mavis Staples on vocals, Rick Holmstrom on guitar, Jeff Turmes on bass, Stephen Hodges on drums, and background singers Yvonne Staples, Donny Gerrard, and Chavonne Morris, take the stage, adding a soulful strut to Buffalo Springfield’s “For What it’s Worth.” After a that Mavis Staples takes the mic to say that, “We’ve come tonight to bring you some joy, some happiness, inspiration, and some positive vibrations!”

With that said, the mojo gets deep, funky, and fun. “Wade in the Water” from Mavis’ current studio album, was brought to a higher plane as the band jammed for six minutes plus, with Mavis roaring at times like a late train that’s trying to catch up with Curtis Mayfield’s train that left the station on time from “People Get Ready.” Both songs being about redemption and damnation. The background singers sweetly countered some of Mavis’ gutsiest vocals.

“This Little Light of Mine” which is usually given a traditionally spiritual reading, on “Live: Hope at the Hideout,” in Chicago, Mavis and the band conjure up a emotionally charged, but slow, smoldering cadence. The effect- it bristles with energy heightened by Mavis’ free flowing guttural growl that’s positively enlightening. It’s a stark change from Springsteen’s version who, on the “Live in Dublin” album, with The Seeger Sessions band, turned it into a righteous rockier, seating right it in the front pew.

Even the more slow, introspective numbers like “Waiting for My Child,” or “Why Am I Treated so Bad,” are attention-getting spirituals that focus on Mavis’ and the band’s interplay. It’s like sharing a secret between the audience and the artist. The band is viding off the audience, as they audience vibes off the band, creating an equally upward, musical spiral taking the songs to another place and time. Packing both equal parts intellectual, and emotional feeling into an organic thing, with both songs catching fire.

Hearing “We Shall Not be Moved” just two days after the presidential elections, and Mavis’ first-hand experience about racial discrimination, is both inspiring and shameful. We still have a long way to go but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

With many exciting peaks and valleys the show was kicked up a couple of notches by the encores of the traditionally upbeat spiritual, “Will the Circle be Unbroken,” “On My Way,” with it’s slow blues break, and The Staple Singers original, “I’ll Take You There.” The latter song ended the night, and was a standout. Led my Mavis Staples’ and underpinned only by Rick Holston’s subliminal guitar licks, they never approach the originals flaring, horn-fired R&B groove, but they did get the point across: Joy, Happiness, Inspiration, and Positive Vibrations!- Phil Rainone