Mavis Staples plus The James Hunter Six at Colston Hall Bristol on 17 July 2017
Mavis Staples plus The James Hunter Six will perform at The Colston Hall in Bristol on Monday 17 July 2017.
Renowned gospel singer and civil rights activist Mavis Staples has been delivering powerful songs for the last 67 years, and she still has plenty to say. Originally recognised as a prodigious talent within her family band The Staple Singers, her well-sustained solo career has been immensely fruitful. Recent collaborations with Wilco, Bon Iver and tUnE-yArds demonstrate that she remains as fiercely relevant and highly esteemed as she has always been.
Support comes from British R&B band The James Hunter Six, whose energised take on classic blue-eyed soul earned frontman Hunter a much-deserved reputation as a songwriter as well as a powerful live musician.
Before the show, you can enjoy the freshest sounds of Memphis with a free performance from The Stax Music Academy in our Foyer at 6pm.
Mavis Staples
Mavis Staples is a prolific American gospel/rhythm and blues singer, actress and civil rights actress. She was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1939, and began singing with family ensemble The Staple Singers in 1950, initially singing in local churches and appearing on a weekly radio show but eventually becoming household names. Thanks to a close friendship between her father and Martin Luther King Jr., The Staple Singers became deeply associated with the American civil rights movements. They released many songs with messages of solidarity in their iconic gospel style on Stax Records during the 1960s and 1970s.
Mavis launched her solo career with an eponymous debut album in 1969, also on Stax Records, and since then has released 14 studio albums under own name including ‘Time Waits for No One’ (1989), produced by Prince, and ‘You Are Not Alone’ (2010) and ‘One True Vine’ (2013), both produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. Her most recent release ‘Livin’ on a High Note’ (2016) features songs written specifically for her by artists including Nick Cave, Justin Vernon, tUnE-yArds, Neko Case, Benjamin Booker and Aloe Blacc.
She won a Grammy Award in 2011 for Best Americana Album, and holds honorary doctorate degrees and Berklee College of Music and Columbia College Chicago. She has collaborated with dozens of artists across a diverse spectrum of soul, jazz, blues, rock and country including Bob Dylan, with whom she was nominated for a Grammy Award, John Scofield, The Band, Ray Charles, Party Griffin and Arcade Fire.
The James Hunter Six
James Hunter and his band, called The James Hunter Six, have toured with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Willie Nelson, Van Morrison, Chris Isaak, Boz Scaggs and others. Van Morrison has called Colchester born James Hunter “one of the best voices and best kept secrets in British R&B and soul.” In the early Nineties, Morrison caught James’ act at a gig in Wales and subsequently hired him as a backup singer for several years of touring and recording. However it wasn’t until after Hunter had gone through a particularly low period spending his time busking, that a chance encounter with an American led to a record deal.
Hunter’s first record was 2006’s ‘People Gonna Talk’, By the year’s end, the album was among the Top Ten ‘Best Albums of 2006’ as cited by Mojo, among others. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album and James himself was nominated as Best New/Emerging Artist in the annual Americana Music Awards. His follow-up, ‘The Hard Way’, was equally well received. 2013’s ‘Minute By Minute’ was the first release credited to The James Hunter Six, a name change which acknowledged his band’s unflinching loyalty and talent over many years of recording and tourinhg.
Tickets are £24.75 to £27.50 including booking fee