Sat 5/3 @ 1PM
Greg Kot has been the popular music critic for the Chicago Tribune for going on a quarter of a century. In that time, he’s become an established, authoritative voice on pop music, via both his copious articles and his job as co-host of a public radio program on music, Sound Opinions.
But talking about the latest releases and reviewing yet another Dave Matthews concert can become soul-deadening, so he’s stretched himself by writing books.
His latest is an authorized biography of a Chicago music legend, singer Mavis Staples, who rose to national prominence with the pop/soul/gospel Staples Singers with her father and three siblings. Since they hit the charts in the early ’70s with tunes like ‘Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There,” she’s also had a busy solo career that’s include collaborations with many other musicians, among them Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, the subject of one of Kot’s previous books.
All of that’s in Kot’s book, I’ll Take You There: Mavis Staples, The Staples Singers, and the March Up Freedom’s Highway. He’ll be at the Rock Hall Library and Archives Reading Room to talk about this incredible story.
The event is free with a reservation.