Quote:Calling the Sunday audience “Taste of Chicagoish,” a city spokeswoman said 500,000 people attended the three-day festival, and Sunday night’s audience was one of the largest evening crowds I have seen in several years.
The crowd included Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who introduced (Mavis) Staples.
...Guitarist Rick Holmstrom laid down humid Creedence swamp licks for “Creep Along Moses” and the Staples Singers’ 1965 call-to-arms “Freedom Highway.” Staples paid tribute to her late compatriot Levon Helm with a cresting cover of “The Weight” with Donny Gerrard (I never get tired of pointing out he sang lead on the 1972 Skylark hit “Wildflower”) replicating the Pops Staples parts from “The Last Waltz.”
She offered a measured, soulful take of Jeff Tweedy’s “You Are Not Alone,” the title track from her latest album while clapping her hands and offering a smile that has crossed a thousand bridges.
A gospel version of a Jeff Tweedy song at the Chicago Blues Festival? Blues purists were turning their heads like Linda Blair in “The Exorcist.”
But the best ringer was Staples covering Taylor’s best-known hit “Wang Dang Doodle,” missing from the earlier Koko tribute because the segment ran too long. Staples sang the Willie Dixon composition with her best barroom swagger, adding that Taylor was the only person who could call Staples “Mable.” Taylor couldn’t pronounce “Mavis.”
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/mu...rists.html
Past Staples performances:
"Creep Along Moses" "Freedom on a London television program.
"Freedom Highway" at Melbourne Festival 2011
Mavis Staples + Jeff Tweedy - "You Are Not Alone" Acoustic
