Staples Jr Singers: The Gospel Truth

The Staples Jr Singers are the Browns, a family from Aberdeen, in the northeast of Mississippi, who grew up singing gospel songs on the highways and byways of the South in the 60s and 70s. Their songs of hope resonated wherever the road took them, but after cutting only one full-length album, When Do We Get Paid, in 1975, they soon went quiet and were almost lost to time.

But now, nearly half a century later, their songs of faith have found new life and the three surviving siblings – Edward, RC and Annie – return with a follow-up album and a new generation of musicians in tow.

It’s been a long road from their childhood growing up in the desegregated but divided South in the 60s. “We had places that, right here in Aberdeen, you couldn’t go.” The eldest surviving sibling Edward tells me stories in his thick southern drawl of ‘white only’ signs, being asked to leave restaurants, and how the church and gospel music offered a sense of escape.

Every weekend as kids, their dad (also a singer) would usher them into the family van and they’d travel across Dixie performing in gospel programmes and talent shows. “People were coming up to [my dad] saying, ‘Y’all sound like The Staple Singers. Why don’t you call them Little Staples Jr?’,” Annie smiles as she explains where the name came from.

They cut their first album, When Do We Get Paid, as teenagers in 1975. “We weren’t really talking about money paid,” Edwards explains. “We were talking about, when this life is over, when the Lord will pay me for all of my good work I have done.”

And apparently, He was going to make them wait. Gospel wasn’t an easy environment to navigate, especially as young kids. The scene was extremely competitive – essentially every family plays and sings together, so it takes a lot to stand out from the crowd – and it meant walking a fine line in their community – having recorded an album could be seen as being cocky, and pride, of course, is a sin. This was all added to the fact that they were repeatedly told by the adults around them that they were too young to be preaching for the Lord. Despite all this, the record had some success at the time, though not enough for it to become a rarity, and a prize catch for gospel collectors, years later.

Then, the Browns got a call from New York-based record label Luaka Bop who wanted to license one of their songs for The Time for Peace is Now (2019), a collection of rare gospel compiled by DJ Greg Belson. The label followed up by reissuing When Do We Get Paid in 2022. “I thought it was a dream,” Edward recalls. “I cried many nights for something to happen like this. I told the Lord, ‘give me something that I could touch the whole world. ‘The Lord spoke to me, He say, ‘it’s already there.’ And when I got that call [from Luaka Bop] that was my call right there. And I thank God ever since. I thank Him for the Luaka Bop.”

“We never thought that album would be repeated again,” Annie adds. “We thought it would be buried and forgotten about. But God, you know, He don’t forget. We might forget. God don’t forget.”

The reissue was met with acclaim and sparked a resurgence of interest in the Jr Singers and in October last year, they reunited to record their second album, Searching, nearly 50 years after the first.

Recorded live over two evenings in a single-room church in West Point, Mississippi, Searching revisits songs that were written in the 80s but never captured on record. Sitting in the pews of The Message Centre, it felt like a returning home. “We were raised up at the church,” Annie explains, and the church remains a huge part of their lives.

“I play [at my church] every Sunday,” RC adds. “It is always with me. My mom and daddy brought me up in church all my life and that’s all I got.”

The Staples Jr Singers have always been a family endeavour and it remains so on Searching as Edward, RC and Annie invited their kids and grandkids to join in on the celebration. Edward’s son Troy sings on the single ‘Lost in a World of Sin’. “Troy can sing,” Edward smiles. “He got a voice and I’m not just bragging ’cause he’s my son.” RC’s son Gary takes up the bass and his grandson Jaylin is on the drums.

“We just a musical family,” Edward says. “God gave it to us. If you can sing it, we’ll play it. If you sing a song now, we give you some music, we can do that. That’s the gift God gave us. I guarantee you that.”

Faith has always been the cornerstone of their music. Their songs are imbued with a deep sense of spirituality, reflecting their unwavering belief in divine guidance. As I speak with them, it becomes clear that when they speak of faith, it’s about joy and love, about trusting the Lord to get you through the hardships. It’s the beautiful side of faith that’s about loving your fellow man, not the insidious face of religion that seems to plaster the news these days.

“I got to love you no matter what,” Edward tells me. “If I can help you, I would help you… That’s the way I am. I just love peoples. I love to treat them right.”

“I thank God I know how to love and how to smile in the midst of trouble.” Annie, who sings on ‘Living in This World Alone’, the standout track on Searching, knows she’s never actually alone. “As long as I know I’m living for Him, I don’t worry about nothing else because I believe that He gonna make it all right.”

‘You see, The Staples have had a hard time, coming down through the years… But I want the world to know this, right here…’ Edward starts ‘I Don’t Need Nobody But You’ in his best preacher voice before launching into the title chorus. The rest of the family answer ‘He’ll make it alright. He’ll make it alright…’

And if you allow yourself to give in to the gentle sway of the song, you can believe it.

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Songlines magazine. Never miss an issue – subscribe today