Classic southern soul highlighting one of the roots of Americana from the AMA award winner.
In January 2025 the Americana Music Association awarded “legendary soul icon” Candi Staton their highest accolade, an International Lifetime Achievement Award. This is given by the AMA board “in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the Americana genre over the span of their career and life in music.”
Staton has also just released her 32nd album. ‘Back To My Roots.’ The press describes it as an “Americana-styled album which features Staton’s re-interpretations of songs popularised by the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, And Al Green alongside original compositions.”
Opening mid-tempo blues shuffle ‘I Miss the Target Again’ features some spiky Robert Cray style guitar from Jonathan DuBose Jr and demonstrates that Staton’s songwriting and singing are in remarkable shape at 85. Staton embraced her roots in gospel music in the 1980s and the next son up is the standard ‘It’s Gonna Rain,’ and her own writing is very much in that world. The funky ‘Hang on In There’ with vocals from blues man Larry McCrary is the best of her own contributions.
In 2023 Staton played some festival dates in the UK as part of a farewell tour, and recorded a version of Jagger/Richards ‘Shine A Light’ with British Soul band Push backing her as they had on tour. She takes the ‘Exile on Main St’ tribute to Brian Jones straight to church and turns it into an album highlight. The first of two Thomas A Dorsey songs is ‘Lord Will Make a Way Somehow,’ and she easily challenges Al Green for definitive version. the other Dorsey song is ‘Be Peace In The Valley’ sung by Mahalia Jackson and Elvis Presley.
‘1963’ is a poignant, spoken-word reflection on September 15, 1963, when four Black girls were killed in the Birmingham Church bombing in Alabama. “I was in the city that day and I remember the chaos and horror after the bombing,” Staton recalls. “Just thinking of how racism and hatred caused those men to kill those girls was so emotional for me that I could only do it in one take.” 60 years later you can still hear the anguish it caused her and many others.
Staton’s fame in the UK rests on disco hit ‘Young Hearts Run Free’ and to a lesser extent the use of her vocal on a house music version of gospel classic ‘You Got the Love.’ Her recording career dates back into the late 60s and a run of albums for FAME studios in Muscle Shoals Alabama. It’s this work which gives ‘Back to My Roots.’ It’s well worth seeking out the compilation of that work ‘Evidence: The Complete Fame Records Masters’ for its often-inspired song selections, including ‘In The Ghetto,’ and ‘Stand By Your Man’ both of which she refashions into something entirely new and incendiary.
She pulls the same vocal fireworks into ‘Touch Heaven for Me’ a bluesy tune which singers a quarter her age would struggle to emulate. The album cruises out on two more gospel tunes. ‘My God Has A Telephone’ which has more sub-Robert Cray guitar, redeemed by the duet with William Bell of Stax Records fame. The late country singer Lari White’s ‘In God’s Hands We Rest Untroubled’ has a backing track filled with synths and guitar which is at odds with the rest of the album. Staton says “Lari sent me that song to consider at least ten years ago and I always loved it. The record label didn’t want it on the album or something, so I just held it.” Hence its appearance as a bonus track here I imagine.
There can be a temptation for outside observers to see “Americana” as some sort of annex of country music. A few minutes reading around AUK will quickly put that idea to bed of course with artists like Allison Russell and Amythyst Kiah blending country folk with funk and soul influences. Our own local hero Lady Nade, currently touring an amazing celebration of Nina Simone, sang with Staton at the AMA awards. Acknowledging the southern gospel/soul that this album represents as part of the mix that makes up Americana is obvious, as is applauding the AMA board for recognising that in their award to Staton. If you like Soul in any form, listen to this as an example of a late career triumph for one of the key names in the genre. If you wonder why she is being celebrated by the Americana world at all, listen to it to plug up the gap in your understanding of where the Americana we love came from.
