Like Mavis Staples says:‘It’s all God’s music’

By Mark Hinson, Tallahassee Democrat

It's the voice. That husky contralto that packs so much depth and authority. It'll stop you cold.

Mavis Staples suddenly burst into song when she started talking excitedly about recording her jaw-dropping 2007 album We'll Never Turn Back with producer-guitarist Ry Cooder. "Ry didn't want do it (record 'Jesus Is On the Main Line') so I just started singing while he had his back turned and was tuning his guitar," Staples said before she started belting the opening lines of the gospel standard. "Jesus is on that mainline, tell him what you want," Staples sang over the phone. "Jesus is on that mainline, tell him what you want... You've gotta call him up and tell him what you want."

Staples brought her unmistakable voice - which has only gotten more commanding with age - to Tallahassee, FL this past week when she kicked off the marathon that is the Seven Days of Opening Nights arts festival. She shared the bill at Bethel AME Church with fellow gospel travelers The Blind Boys of Alabama, who won a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award and another one for best gospel album of the year at this year's Grammy Awards. (MORE...)