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the blind boys of alabama & mavis staples

February 13 • 8pm
Tickets: $15 - $65 / purchase tickets
Bethel AME Church / see a map
Parking: extremely limited /parking & shuttle information

The Seven Days ’09 concert season gets off to a rafter-raising start with a performance by two gospel-soul legends. Over the course of 60 years, the Blind Boys of Alabama have morphed from a gospel quartet to “a superweapon of roots-music uplift” (Rolling Stone). The group has earned four consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Traditional Gospel Album while trailblazing a style that mixes a contemporary approach with old-school gospel. The result is a wide-ranging repertoire and an absolutely incendiary live show.

Mavis Staples, who possesses “one of the most sublime gospel-informed voices to ever grace the pop charts” (Atlanta Journal- Constitution), fronted the legendary Staples Singers (inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999), teaming with her father and sisters to create such classics as “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There.” As a solo artist, Staples has worked with Prince, Curtis Mayfield and Ry Cooder. Her 2007 disc We’ll Never Turn Back was named Record of the Year by the Chicago Tribune.

“Now a husky-voiced 68, Ms. Staples is as powerful a singer as ever,” says the New York Times. “And she has never taken her eyes off the prize.”

 

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