Hello Reader,
Welcome back. Hope you’re well.
Today we’re going to delve into the Staples Jr. Singers. A group that may be unknown to some, but no one that has read this review. The band’s origins began in 1967 in the small town of Aberdeen, Mississippi. A town that has a rich Blues history past including but not limited to blues legends Albert King and Bukka White. It was in Aberdeen in the late 60s that siblings Edward, Annie, Cleveland, R.C., and Ronnell Brown turned a love of listening to and performing gospel into organized shows in area homes, schools, and churches. They were young, most of the siblings hadn’t reached their teenage years by 1967. As far as who performed what within the band; Edward, Annie, and Cleveland sang, R.C. sang and also played guitar and Ronnell was the group’s bassist. Why the group’s name? Well, The Staple Singers lead by “Pops” and Mavis Staples and also featuring three of Mavis’ siblings were taking Gospel and then a wider, secular music audience in the US by storm, at the time. Comparisons were made by the Brown family’s audiences, and they were known as the Staples Jr. Singers from there forward. Within a few years the Staples Jr. Singers had toured throughout many parts of the Bible Belt sharing messages of equality and hope within an area still in a Jim Crow mindset.
In 1974, the Staples Jr. Singers recorded and released their first music. It was a 7″ single with “Waiting for the Trumpet to Sound” on the A side (written by Edward) and “We Got a Race to Run” (written by Annie) on the B side. The next year, the group now in their teens created their first and only album When Do We Get Paid with Corl Walker on drums. It’s a beautiful, soulful blues album worth your time to listen to. A few hundred copies were released on vinyl via Brenda Records, a Gospel label from Mississippi. It sounds like most if not all of the copies were sold to the groups most devout fans in the area. And thus, the record was unheard of by those outside of Mississippi. In 1979, another 7″ single was recorded this time by the religious label from Mississippi, Praise Records. The songs featured were “Everybody (Got A Job To Do)” on the A side and “We’re Gonna Walk Around Heaven” on the B side. After this record, the band would continue to play together occasionally. But the bands members would play more so with other groups including the Caldwell Singers, but for decades the Staples Jr. Singers never recorded another song together, each doing their own thing.
In 2019, the NY based, David Byrne founded label Luaka Bop (yes Byrne, who is best known from the band Talking Heads among many artistic endeavors) released the well-regarded 70s Gospel compilation, The Time For Peace Is Now: Gospel Music About Us. The 14-song compilation brought new attention to unknown, or lessor known 70s Gospel and Soul music including the song “We Got A Race to Run” by the Staples Jr. Singers. This release and its popularity led to reissue of the bands’ When Do We Get Paid in 2022 to incredible reviews by the music industry. And the release in 2023 of an EP titled Tell Heaven which features the entire When Do We Get Paid on the A side and three songs including “Tell Heaven” on the B side.
Here’s the powerful anthem, “We Got A Race to Run”:
(All credits to Staples Jr. Singers and Luaka Bop Records)
Ready to discover more of the group’s music? A new album, Searching is out via the fantastic Luaka Bop Records on Friday, June 14th for your listening pleasure. The surviving band members Edward, Annie and R.C. and their offspring assembled to make this new album.
Giving credit where it’s due. Searching album credits:
- Original members: Edward Brown sang vocals, R.C. Brown played guitar and sang vocals, and Annie Brown Caldwell sang vocals.
- Edward’s son Troy Brown sang backing vocals.
- R.C.’s son Gary Brown played bass.
- R.C.’s grandson Jaylin Brown played drums.
- Ahmed Gallab produced the album.
- Albert Di Fiore engineered the album.
- The album was recorded over two evenings in October 2023, in a single-room church in West Point, Mississippi, called The Message Center.
Some new album hype for your ears? Ok here you go!
R.C. gets a rare chance to sing, and lot of family memories within the video for “I’ve Got A Feeling”:
(All credits and rights to Luaka Bop and Staples Jr. Singers)
Searching while driving around a Mississippi town in the video for “Lost In a World of Sin”:
(All credits and rights to Luaka Bop and Staples Jr. Singers)
Overall, Searching is a blessing to hear. To get a band together again, nearly 50 years later is something few bands can say. To also have the opportunity to put your voice and instrumentation on tape again, to re-record versions of a few songs is so rare and special. Reissues happen more often, sometimes remixes of old audio but to put another version out there five decades later is extraordinary. On top of that, the original members have experienced a lot of life and regardless they sound good! Perhaps even better than before. Listener, I’ll let you form you own thoughts. There’s still plenty of heart, soul and power in the singers’ vocals, and the new band members play the heck out of their instruments. And all of it was done in a small church over two evening sessions. A reminder to some that talented artists can be found and recorded in more spaces than solely a state-of-the-art studio. As a listener and reviewer, thank you to the fans, and those in the industry that made this new album possible. As singer Annie Brown Caldwell said, “It was good to be able to go back and look back over our life. Some of the same songs that we had sung, those songs have a new meaning to me.” Can you hear that in their voices?
The opening track, “Living In This World Alone (Feat. Annie Brown Caldwell)” starts with a righteous melody of drums, soulful guitars and vocals from Annie. And some nice backing vocals to strengthen the chorus even more. The lyrics involve a conversation with the Lord.
“Lost In A World Of Sin” kicks off with a funky bass groove paired with a drum beat that marches on. The lyrics are searching in nature and serve as testimony.
The melody of “You Got To Believe” is kicked up another notch in funk. Led by the bass guitar and the rest of the instrumentation pairs well. The back-and-forth vocals add a nice touch as do the choruses with backing vocals. It was nice to hear all of the singers in one song together. The lyrics involve the immediate family and serve as both a reminder to trust in the Lord.
“Walk Around Heaven” is another song with a lot of soul and a fantastic melody. It’s sung in an uplifting and positive manner. The lyrics tell of a redeemed soul reaching its eternal destination (Heaven).
The next song, “I’ve Got A Feeling” is the most jubilant song on the album. The lyrics are upbeat, uplifting and sung from a perspective of reassurance. The melody features some sweet guitar lyrics and progressions, and the drums keep time perfectly. Overall, the melody is stripped down a bit more compared to previous songs, which allows the vocals to shine.
I love the way the vocals open the song “Don’t Need No Doctor” before the melody starts. It allows the listener a moment to appreciate the powerful vocals for a moment. The titular refrain is repeatedly used and truly hammers the point home. Truly. The lyrics tell of salvation. Near the end of the song, there’s a sweet and beautiful guitar solo.
“I Don’t Need Nobody But You” is a retrospective, telling of the bands travels and also serves as a recommitment of faith in the Lord aka “You” in the title. By duration it is the longest song on the album. The melody has some funk and grooves at times due to the guitar work, and quiets in other parts to allow the vocals to shine. It’s nice to hear the newer band members being shouted out and them getting solos thereafter.
The final song on the album, “Get On Board” begins sweetly followed by vocals and lyrics that serve as a call to arms. The pacing of the instrumentation matches the vocal delivery pace quite well.
Searching gets 4.5 out of 5 Scum Drops from me. The album is firmly within that 4.5 Scum Drops range for me. I don’t know how you could make a better Gospel album. This may end up as the best overall Gospel album of 2024. If you like Gospel, you’ll love this. If Gospel isn’t your first genre to listen to, you’ll still fall in love with the soul this album. The band put its entire heart and soul into this, and it comes across, beautifully. On top of that, the band story is incredible and worth delving into. Add this album your collection on any format(s) of your choice but I’d highly recommend vinyl first. Music with a lot of soul truly sounds best coming through your speaker set up.
Searching Track listing [song length]
1. Living In This World Alone (Feat. Annie Brown Caldwell) [3:01]
2. Lost In A World Of Sin [4:01]
3. You Got To Believe [3:08]
4. Walk Around Heaven [3:35]
5. I’ve Got A Feeling [2:53]
6. Don’t Need No Doctor [4:09]
7. I Don’t Need Nobody But You [7:07]
8. Get On Board [2:44]
Total runtime: 30:38
I’ll always advocate that you take the time to listen to every album in its entirety. The process with the Searching will take you just over an hour if you listen to it twice from start to finish. Definitely invest at least an hour of your time on this release. Along the way, you’ll discover your own favorite songs without the influence or bias of others. After a few listens on my own, the songs that are highlighted in green font above are my favorite songs on this album.
Their awesome website with all the info you want, including but not limited to, dates for a European tour, and the bands socials is right here!
Thank you for reading and supporting good music.
Until next time,
Alex
Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site: scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions!
Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com
