If you polled 1,000 people on ideal conditions for a concert, what would the top responses be? Seeing a legend, say a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer-caliber act, would surely be a popular desire. Maybe in a dark, intimate setting with little to nothing between them and the performer? Seating has to play in somewhere. The more accessible and unrestricted, the better. Winston-Salem was afforded all of those scenarios and more this past Saturday night, as the illustrious Mavis Staples baptized the sparkling, new Hanesbrands Theatre in a torrent of ragged gospel, vintage soul and unbridled charisma.
Unlike other performance spaces on her current tour, the black-box Hanesbrands Theatre isn’t some grand proscenium engineered for impeccable acoustics and doesn’t possess ornate carvings and trim. It’s a barebones space that puts the focus squarely on the performers and all but dissolves the imaginary wall between them and the audience. Given the crowds Staples regularly performs before, the roughly 400 seats (and additional standing room) at the Milton Rhodes Center’s smaller performance space paled in comparison. At just over half the seated capacity — considerably less than what came out the night before in Durham — the turnout at Saturday night’s show didn’t appear totally befitting someone of her distinction. For those that were there, however, it was a completely unforgettable night.
As with most firsts, some technical quirks were to be expected. Opener Jolie Holland dealt with lopsided sound during her first song, an unnamed piece from an as-yet-to-berecorded album. Her Gibson Archtop overpowered her fragile and already challenging brogue, even resounding over accompanist Grey Gersten’s electric backing. All was right by the time Holland brought out “Lake Ponchartrain,” one of the songs she wrote in the early days of the Be Good Tanyas. In her short set, she managed to pay homage to a couple of the great songwriters who’ve made a clear impression on her work. She brought out the twang for a cover of Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s “Coming Home,” to which the exaggerated slur in her voice lent a feeling of desperation. Echoing the subject of her upcoming duo album with Gersten, Holland turned over the vocal duties to her partner for a rendition of Michael Hurley’s semi-obscure “The Time is Right,” in which she affected the songs whistled bridge perfectly.
After a brief intermission, Staples and her five-piece backing band took the floor to as much applause as could be wrung from the smallish group on hand. From the second she took the mic, she was prepared to remind the room of her devoutly spiritual roots. She opened with the traditional gospel tune “Wonderful Savior” a capella with the help of her backup singers Donny Gerard and Chavonne Morris, but it was nearly all major-key bliss from there on. The night was full of songs culled from her latest album, the brilliant You Are Not Alone, a deeply uplifting record produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. She introduced his penmanship with “Wrote a Song for Everyone,” one of the many clappers she chose to bring out, followed by her own “Creep Along Moses.”
For her live shows, Staples regularly pulls great songs from the canon — Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and Talking Heads’ “Slippery People” are some — and completely transform them, though this night her set list was a little on the conservative side. She focused primarily on the new album, but there was one chestnut that was bound to find its way into the set eventually.
Mavis’ earth-moving cameo on the Band’s seminal concert film The Last Waltz was the first exposure a lot of Gen-Xers had to the Staples Singers, and it’s been a fixture in her performances since. Staples was irrepressible in her passion for the piece, but it was Gerard who was utterly transporting in his reproduction of both Pops Staples’ weary tenor and Rick Danko’s tottering cadence. Staples wasn’t the only Last Waltz alum in the house, however. Former Muddy Waters sideman and Greensboro resident “Steady Rollin’” Bob Margolin didn’t have the same face time that Staples did alongside the Band, but he was front and center in paying reverence along with the rest of the room.
Steady Rollin’ could’ve stepped in on guitar at any moment, but Staples’ own sideman Rick Holmstrom would have been tough to unseat. His textbook rock-n’-roller style was a perfect pair to Staples’ deep and resonant voice, and it was tough at times not to home in on his masterful playing. Staples, though, was more than in control of the spotlight. Whether she was engaging the audience on her dinner at Sweet Potatoes (“That soul food lady broke me down, y’all.”) or jostling the theater’s somewhat gauche moniker (It’s so wonderful to be here at Hanes Theatre. Hanesbrands? Hanesb-b-brands. I love me some Mikey.”), her presence was unassailable. Even when she stepped back to let Holmstrom and bassist Jeff Turmes flex their instrumental muscle, it was difficult to takes eyes off of her as she shouted encouragement from the sidelines.
She could’ve ended without complaint on an a stirring cover of Rev. Gary Davis’ “I Belong to the Band Hallelujah.” Even an incredible 10-minute “I’ll Take You There” that saw her go to the audience for vocal support — an impractical gesture at nearly any other theater — felt completely climatic. After 90 minutes of steady spiritual elevation, Staples let the audience down gently with a joyful finisher from the new album, “We’re Gonna Make It.” She left the audience with the promise that she left a lot of great songs unexplored and that just maybe, she’d be back to do it again. If we’re lucky, maybe it’ll be the same venue.
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