Mavis Staples

Grim days call for fierce love. And Mavis Staples, one of the most enduring figures in American music, is laying it down. Now 87, Mavis has been performing since the age of eight. After starting out with her father Roebuck “Pops” Staples, sisters Cleotha and Yvonne, and brother Pervis in the Staple Singers more than 70 years ago, she’s the lone surviving member of the group, still carrying her family’s gifts and knowledge as a living heritage.

Sad and Beautiful World is the fifteenth solo album from this national treasure and multigenerational talent. The record spans seven decades of the American Songbook—a range nearly as vast as Mavis’ career—and includes reinventions of timeless songs as well as original music.

Inducted into several halls of fame (Blues, Rock, and Gospel), a Kennedy Center Honoree, and a winner of multiple Grammys (including a Lifetime Achievement Award), Mavis is our musical history. She’s collaborated with nearly every major figure of her era(s), from Dylan to Prince, Aretha, and Willie, not to mention countless stars from subsequent generations.

Not only is Mavis still making studio albums, but she’s also still on the road, returning to venues like the Newport Folk Festival, where she’s been a fixture since 1964. Few people wield the combination of moral authority and musical artistry that Mavis possesses. The moral authority stems from her experiences during the Jim Crow era as a Black woman playing music in the South. The Staple Singers created the literal soundtrack for the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery with their seminal album Freedom Highway and opened for Martin Luther King Jr. at his rallies.

Special thanks to our Center Stage Series sponsor AB Jets.