Enlarge Shantel Mitchell for NPR Mavis Staples performs at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival.
Shantel Mitchell for NPR Mavis Staples performs at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival.
Wonderful Savior Creep Along Freedom Highway This is My Country Too Close to Heaven / I’m On My Way to Heaven Anyhow We’re Gonna Make It Short Jam Hallelujah I’ll Take You There
Mavis Staples has accomplished so much as a singer and civil-rights icon, it’s easy to forget how approachable and relatable she is as a performer. Sure, she’s performed for Martin Luther King Jr., had her hit “I’ll Take You There” used as a central song in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and won over generations of admirers as both a solo artist and a leader of The Staple Singers. But she also possesses an incredibly easy-going and pleasant nature that makes her a natural star on stage — she’s like the mayor of gospel music. Staples’ newest album, 2010′s You Are Not Alone, was recorded with the aid of a younger icon, Wilco‘s Jeff Tweedy. Hear Staples perform live at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I.