Staple scrolls

Roebuck “Pops” Staples, then a construction worker, needed to occupy his kids during the evenings while his wife worked as a hotel laundry supervisor. “We weren’t singing for a career,” Mavis Staples, on the phone from her South Side home, says about her family’s legendary gospel group, the Staple Singers. “We were singing to amuse ourselves around the house.” In 60 years of amusement, Mavis Staples’s lauded career has spanned gospel, R&B and political activism, as well as collaborations with Prince and, most recently, fellow Chicagoan Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. On November 27, Staples plays Park West in support of the Tweedy-produced You Are Not Alone.

With this new album, you’re getting written about everywhere.
It’s amazing! And Time Out, I’ve been wondering why you guys have been taking so long! [Laughs]

Your Facebook page says, “Don’t call it a comeback. She’s been here for years.” Did you write that?
I didn’t write that. But I was glad to read it! [Laughs] Yes, indeed! I haven’t retired. I’ve just had some slow moments where you all didn’t hear me.

You met Jeff Tweedy at the Hideout when you played there in 2008. Your first impression of him?
A nice young man, warm, humble. When we had our first meeting, I thought I was gonna have another Prince on my hands because Tweedy was shy and Prince never would talk. He would just roll his eyes and smile at me.

Why do you think he was so shy with you?
Prince? He’s painfully shy anyhow. It was like when you first meet a little kid. The little kid shies away from you and goes to Mommy, but then after a while they’re all right with you.… Three weeks [after meeting Tweedy] was when my manager told me he wanted to produce me, and Tweedy suggested we meet at a restaurant.

Did you pick the restaurant?
Yeah, that’s why I think he was so quiet because he might’ve been scared: Oh, I’m on the South Side! I better get back up north! [Laughs]

The Staple Singers used to open for Martin Luther King Jr. What do you recall of him?
He had this favorite song that Pops had written: “Why Am I Treated So Bad.” He would always say to Pops, “Now, Stape, you’re gonna sing my song tonight, right?” And Pops said, “Oh, yes, Doctor, we will sing your song.” Now, he would say to us girls, “How you girls doin’ today? How y’all doing?” And we’d say, “We’re fine, Dr. King!” We’re blushing like crazy.

Your father came from Mississippi; he must’ve had strong memories of race relations there.
Oh, yeah. Pops told us that if he was walking down the street and this white woman was coming toward him, he had to cross over. When we met Dylan back in the ’60s, Pops said, “Wait a minute, y’all. Listen to what that kid is saying.” Dylan was saying, “How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?” You see, Pops could relate to that. He said we should sing that song.

And Dylan asked your father for your hand in marriage?
[Laughs] Yes, that’s the truth. And [Pops] said, “Don’t tell me. Tell Mavis!”

Did he tell you?
Oh, yes. We courted for three, four years.

So he was serious.
Yes! [Laughs] I was in love with Bobby.

Why did you tell him no then?
Well, I was young, I didn’t feel like I was ready to get married. When I met Bobby, we were teenagers, and he was pushing me too fast. [Laughs] But we’re still friends, we still talk.

Do you ever think “what if”?
Oh, yes, I do I think about that a lot. If we had some children… And I know if I had said yes, I would’ve been happy.

Who did you marry?
I married an undertaker.

What happened, did you divorce?
I divorced him, yes! [Laughs] Oh, yes, I had to get away. Whenever somebody tells me they want me to stop singing, I’m gone. He wanted me to stop singing! And I told him I was singing before I met him. It was just a man thing, just want me at home. No way! I keep my songs and I continue to sing, and I let you go.

Did you ever have children?
No, no. And I wanted children so bad. I was about to try and get started, and that was when he just went crazy and tell me, “I want you at home, I don’t want no songbird!” I said, “I was a songbird when you married me!”

You’ve said one reason you bonded with Tweedy was because he’s a family man.
Yes, indeed, and I have children all over the world—did you read on my Facebook where my friend named her baby Mavis? I wrote that one!

Mavis Staples plays Park West November 27 at 7pm.

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