Mavis Staples

Hailed by NPR as “one of America’s defining voices of freedom and peace,” Staples is the kind of once-in-a-generation artist whose impact on music and culture would be difficult to overstate. She’s both a Blues and a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer; a civil rights icon; a three-time GRAMMY Award winner (and a GRAMMY lifetime achievement award); a chart-topping soul, gospel, and R&B pioneer; a National Arts Awards Lifetime Achievement recipient; named to Rolling Stone’s Top 200 Singers of All Time at #46; and a Kennedy Center honoree. She marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., performed at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, and sang in Barack Obama’s White House. Over the past few decades alone, she’s collaborated with everyone from Prince and Bob Dylan to Arcade Fire and Bon Iver, blown away countless festivalgoers from Newport Folk and Glastonbury to Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, and graced the airwaves on Fallon, Colbert, Ellen, Austin City Limits, Jools Holland, and the GRAMMYs. But to Helm, Mavis was more than all that. She was the truth. 

“My dad was very spiritual, and the music that Mavis and her family made was sacred to him,” says Amy. “He absolutely revered and respected the Staple Singers.”  

The pair’s mutual love and admiration is on full display on ‘Carry Me Home’, which features a mix of Staples’ and Helm’s bands operating at the peak of their powers as they work their way through an eclectic setlist of tunes made famous by the likes of Nina Simone, The Impressions, Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones. Gospel classics like “Hand Writing On The Wall” and “Farther Along” (arranged here as a stunning a capella performance) take the audience to church with Sunday morning fervor; Civil Rights anthems like “This Is My Country” and “I Wish I knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” highlight the struggle for justice and equality that still rages today; and aching renditions of Buddy Miller’s “Wide River To Cross” and Helm’s “When I Go Away” meditate on aging and mortality. Staples and the night’s soulful crew of backup singers handle the vast majority of the vocal work here, but it’s perhaps album closer “The Weight,” which features Helm chiming in with lead vocals for the first time, that stands as the concert’s most emotional moment.