There’s a lot of heart, soul, and inspiration in the interview you’re about to hear. Although this conversation took place thirty years ago, the insights Roebuck “Pops” Staples delivers are extraordinarily timely in the context of today’s political and social upheaval.
As Pops expressed it, the purpose of his life and music was to counter negativity, lift the downtrodden, and deliver a sense of “jubilee.” In this spirit, the family group Pops led, the Staple Singers, recorded some of the most transcendent gospel and inspired pop music of the 20th century. Beginning with “Uncloudy Day” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” their many hits included “Respect Yourself,” “I’ll Take You There,” and “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me).” With his gentle, guileless voice and sublime guitar style, Pops anchored the family quartet, which at various times featured his son Pervis and his daughters Cleotha, Yvonne, and Mavis. Although the Staple Singers were based in Chicago, Pops’ Mississippi Delta roots clearly echoed through their music. In our interview, he reflects on growing up on the Dockery plantation in northwest Mississippi, where he began playing guitar and witnessed performances by Charley Patton and young Howlin’ Wolf.
After decades of leading the Staple Singers, Pops, age 77, had just released his first solo album, Peace in the Neighborhood. During the course of our conversation he used his unplugged Fender Stratocaster to play parts from old records and to show how he had used a guitar to teach his children to harmonize. One of the big revelations came when I played him snippets of two of the earliest Staple Singers singles and asked him how he created the gentle tremolo effect heard on his guitar parts. (Most listeners would assume this was an amp effect.) Pops surprised me by picking up his unplugged Strat and recreating that unique sound by gently wavering his left hand.
We met in Pops’ room in San Francisco’s Miyako Hotel on May 11, 1992. Pops was in excellent spirits that morning and happy to talk about his life, family, and music. I hope you enjoy the interview!
Here’s a sample for free subscribers: Pops Staples Trailer
A couple of quick clarifications: About 13 minutes into the interview I handed Pops a photo of Charley Patton without mentioning him by name. Pops instantly recognized him. About five minutes after that, I showed Pops the cover photo of the booklet from the Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings box set.
A transcription of this interview appears in my book Talking Guitar: Conversations with Musicians Who Shaped Twentieth-Century American Music, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2018.
Thanks to Mike Kappus for setting up this interview and to Nik Hunt for co-producing this podcast. And thank you, subscribers, for supporting independent music journalism!
© 2022 Jas Obrecht. All right reserved.
Pops Staples Interview: Gospel, Blues, and Social Justice (Audio)