Mavis Staples - We'll Never Turn Back (Blue Vinyl)

Celebrate the 15th Anniversary of We'll Never Turn Back, the 2007 album from Mavis Staples, with this limited edition blue vinyl. The concept album was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s and was produced by Ry Cooder.

When we started our family group, The Staple Singers, we started out mostly singing in churches in the south. Pops saw Dr. Martin Luther King speak in 1963 and from there we started to broaden our musical vision beyond just gospel songs. Pops told us, “I like this man. I like his message. and if he can preach it, we can sing it” So we started to write “Freedom Songs,” like “Why Am I Treated So Bad,” “When Will We Be Paid For The Work We’ve Done,” “Long Walk To DC,” and many others. Like many in the civil rights movement, we drew on the spirituality and the strength from the church to help gain social justice and try to achieve equal rights.

We became a major voice for the civil rights movement and hopefully helped to make a difference in this country. It was a difficult and dangerous time (in 1965 we spent a night in jail in West Memphis, Arkansas and I wondered if we’d ever make it out alive) but we felt we needed to stand up and be heard.

With this record, I hope to get across the same feeling, the same spirit and the same message as we did with the Staple Singers and to hopefully continue to make positive changes. We’ve got to keep pushing to make the world a better place. Things are better but we’re not where we need to be and we’ll never turn back. 99 and 1/2 just won’t do! - Mavis Staples

15th Anniversary AQUA BLUE vinyl produced by ANTI Records in 2022.

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