Staples Jr. Singers @ la Maroquinerie, Paris - January 31st, 2023

The story of the Staples Jr. Singers is an amazing tale that will leave forever a mark in popular music mythology. It's the story of three young siblings in Mississippi who formed a gospel group and named it after their favorite soul band of the era, the legendary Staple Singers. They sang in Southern churches for a few years and recorded an album, When Do We Get Paid, when they were still teenagers. They printed 500 copies of that album which they sold at shows, and broke up a few years later.

But their profile was raised when David Byrne's label Luaka Bop exhumed one of their early 45s and placed it on one of their compilation albums. A few years alter, they reissued When Do We Get Paid and it prompted a reunion and concerts were organized all over the world. Last year, none of the band members could even dream of singing in Paris, yet here they are, having to take time off their day jobs to perform to crowds of music connoisseurs all over Europe.

Now in their sixties, Annie, A.R.C. and Edward Brown, accompanied by Annie's husband and sons on guitar, bass and drums, have lost nothing of their power to testify and spread the good word. You faith doesn't matter, and neither does your skin color, your language, your gender, your nationality: the Staples Jr. Singers will make you dance, they will make you sing, and for a little over an hour, they will make a believer out of you.