Mavis Staples begins UK tour this week

Mavis Staples

Mavis Staples and Levon Helm mutual love and admiration is on full display on Carry Me Home, the new album which features a mix of Staples’ and Helm’s bands operating at the peak of their powers as they work their way through an eclectic setlist of tunes made famous by the likes of Simone, The Impressions, Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones.

Neither Staples nor Helm knew that this would be their last performance together—the collection marks one of Helm’s final recordings before his death—and listening back now, a little more than a decade later, tunes like ‘This May Be The Last Time’ and ‘Farther Along’ take on new, bittersweet meaning. The result is an album that’s at once a time capsule and a memorial, a blissful homecoming and a fond farewell, a once-in-a-lifetime concert—and friendship—preserved for the ages.

“It never crossed my mind that it might be the last time we’d see each other,’ says Staples. ‘He was so full of life and so happy that week. He was the same old Levon I’d always known, just a beautiful spirit inside and out.”

Mavis Staples, who recently released Carry Me Home, the album featuring the music of Mavis Staples and Levon Helm, returns to the UK this week for a string of festival appearances and headline shows. The UK tour will start at Kite Festival on Saturday, June 11th and will include two shows at London’s Union Chapel. Joining Mavis on tour will be Levon’s daughter Amy Helm.

Artist’s website: https://mavisstaples.com/

‘I Wish I Knew How It Would Be To Be Free’ – in the studio:

MAVIS STAPLES TOUR DATES

11 June – Kidlington, UK – Kite Festival 2022
13 June – Stroud, UK – Subscription Rooms $
14 June – Edinburgh, UK – Usher Hall $
16 June – London, UK – Union Chapel $
17 June – London, UK – Union Chapel $
19 June – Newport, UK – Isle of Wight Festival

$ – with Amy Helm

AMY HELM TOUR DATES

11 June – Bristol, UK – Louisiana
13 June – Stroud, UK – Subscription Rooms $
14 June – Edinburgh, UK – Usher Hall $
16 June – London, UK – Union Chapel $
17 June – London, UK – Union Chapel $
20 June – London, UK – St. Pancras Old Church

$ – with Mavis Staples