Protest Staple

Protest music" isn't always a guy or gal with an acoustic guitar, singing pointedly topical songs. There's a parallel tradition in America where gospel music and the civil rights movement intersected, perhaps best represented today by Mavis Staples. "We looked to the church for inner strength and to help make positive changes," says Staples, who, as a member of gospel legends the Staple Singers, marched with Martin Luther King Jr. She still believes in music as a force for positive change. Her forthcoming live disc, Hope at the Hideout, documents songs of struggle, perserverance, and above all, hope.