The other day, a Soundcloud friend sent me a link to this Mavis Staples You Tube video. An incredible song about black women claiming the right to the same water as the whites. Ry Cooder’s guitar is to die for.
It got me listening to and watching her videos and I found a YouTube mix for her with 85 videos in it.
This morning, snuggling under the duvet, I watched the some of the videos rather than just listening to them and this one came up. Although these are images about blacks fighting for their rights in the U.S.A. (footage from the 60’s by the looks of it) there are many similarities with protest images from the past year. People all over the world are fighting for their liberty, in one way or another. Black history can teach us a lot about the strength of spirit needed to claim our right to human dignity and freedom, and Mavis Staples is a wonderful inspiration.
Not a woman to stay stuck in the past, there’s also this wonderful video from NPR’s Tiny Desk concerts, featuring an acoustic set of songs from her latest CD, You Are Not Alone. What a great song the title track is! Wait for it, it comes up at the end of the video. Yes, there’s a wonderful live, concert version on YouTube but this acoustic track is so up close and personal. Irresistible.
Related articles
- Wilco And Mavis Staples Perform “The Weight” (buzzfeed.com)
- Mavis Staples to headline Chicago Blues Fest (thegrio.com)
- Mavis Staples: ‘We’re Not All the Way Where Dr. King Wanted to Take Us’ (huffingtonpost.com)
- Mavis Staples still preaching at 73 (theglobeandmail.com)
Alison Amazed 
That Mississippi song is dynamite. Ry Cooder gets involved in some amazing music projects.
Lee
An A to Z Co-Host
Tossing It Out
Twitter: @AprilA2Z
#atozchallenge
She is WONDERFUL! And I LOVE her laugh.
She’s amazing! And what an activist!