Mavis Staples
Waterfront Blues Festival
Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Portland, OR.
July 3, 2005

Recorded from KBOO FM, a local all volunteer radio station. There is some inherent reception problems scattered throughout these recordings. The station is not very powerful and the team had some problems on the first day of the festival getting everything "plugged in". All in all some great music with a few tolerable "blurps".

FM > MD > HDD > CDWav (for splitting) > FLAC

No set lists or art. Hope you all enjoy the shows....twofthrs.



Mavis Staples

"One of pop music's most distinctive voices" – Vibe Magazine

Soul and gospel legend Mavis Staples possesses one of the most recognizable and treasured voices in contemporary music. From her early days sharing lead vocals with her groundbreaking family gospel group, The Staple Singers, to her storied solo recordings, Mavis Staples is an inspirational force in modern popular culture and music. A 40-year veteran of the music scene, a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, and included on VH1's list of 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Rolll, Staples (with The Staple Singers and on her own) blazed a rhythm & blues trail while never relinquishing her gospel roots, influencing artists from Bob Dylan to Prince, who dubbed her “the epitome of soul.”

Her stunning career included appearances alongside everyone from the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Bill Cosby to Presidents Kennedy, Carter and Clinton to musicians Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd, Santana and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and recording sessions with Bob Dylan, Los Lobos, Aretha Franklin and many others.

With her 2004 Alligator Records release, Have A Little Faith, Mavis Staples builds on the family tradition of fusing gospel fervor to shades of soul and R&B. Her importance in both the music world and as a driving force of social change makes her a true icon - an artist who continues to create music that will inspire a new generation of people to have faith in the healing and uplifting power of her remarkable gift.

Have A Little Faith(Alligator), is a stirring collection of uplifting, gospel-rooted songs deeply seated in her faith and spirituality. At this year's W.C. Handy Awards, it garnered nominations for Blues Album of the Year and Soul/Blues Album of the Year. Its title track was nominated Blues Song of the Year, and Mavis herself was nominated Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year. Of releasing her music on the blues label, Alligator, Mavis says, "Blues and gospel are cousins. They're very closely related. Both styles of music lift you up from what's keeping you down."

"This album is what I am now. These are the type of songs we sang down through the years-positive songs, informative songs, songs that help people through their lives. I'm telling some very positive and uplifting stories in these songs, and that's what I've always been about—being able to help someone along the way."

Have a Little Faith, her first release in over a decade, helped Mavis sweep the recent WC Handy Awards, the blues world's Grammy, winning Soul-Blues Artist of the Year, Soul Blues Album, Blues Album, and it's title track winning Blues Song.