The southern soul star on country music, champagne and covering the Stones...
The southern soul star on country music, champagne and covering the Stones…
UNCUT: You’re getting a lifetime achievement nod at the UK Americana Awards. Are you surprised to be categorised as Americana?
CANDI STATON: Not really. I’ve been doing Americana music for 10 years or more. I didn’t know I was doing it, it’s just songs I like to sing.
Presumably you would have heard country music on the radio when you were growing up in Alabama?
Oh yeah. My mother wouldn’t let me listen to anything except country music and the Christian stations. We couldn’t listen to the blues – she thought it was the devil’s music. With country, the only thing different is the music. The lyrics say the same thing: let’s go get drunk, I’ll meet you on the corner. What my mother always liked was at the end of every country show, they sang a gospel song. She thought that made it OK.
There are a few gospel numbers on your new album, Back To My Roots…
We’re doing songs my sister and I learned together. I also covered “Shine A Light” – I think the Rolling Stones are gonna really like my version. I did it as much like Mick Jagger as I could, with my vocals, but I now know why they wrote it. It was because one of their band members [Brian Jones] passed away, and it’s in remembrance of him.
What are your memories of recording at the FAME studio in Muscle Shoals?
That’s a book within itself. I worked with Rick Hall for eight years straight. We got with Capitol Records and to make my name a household name, they spent over a million dollars. We went on a seven-state tour. We would have dinners, five courses with Dom Pérignon. I was a little country girl. I was so scared, I would be shaking in my shoes. I was green as grass.
You stopped singing secular songs for a while. Why?
Everything was changing, and I had so much competition. You had Aretha out there. You had Chaka Khan. You had Gladys Knight. If my record came in with theirs, who do you think the DJs would pick? So I was kicked to the backburner. I dealt with the chitlin circuit, basically. I had all these blues songs.
It’s a tough school, the chitlin circuit…
Yeah, it was my college. I graduated from it – I learned how to do shows. Sometimes I’d dress in the kitchen, sometimes in the bathroom. There was nowhere to put my gown on, so I would dress in the back of my limo. The chitlin circuit was a teaching experience. When disco came out, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.
What is it about “Young Hearts Run Free” that makes it so popular?
It has such a wonderful story behind it. I laugh about it sometimes – that’s my life story in three minutes. I was with a guy that had threatened my life, he threatened my mother’s life, if I ever left him. People that don’t understand say, ‘Why you been married so many times?’ I had to, I didn’t want to be alone, but I couldn’t find the kind of man I wanted. And when I got him, he turned out to be a monster.
Where do you go after Back To My Roots?
This is my last record, I’m not going to do any more albums. I’ve done 33! I’ve done my civic duty. I have given to the world all I need to give!
The UK Americana Music Awards take place at London’s Hackney Church on January 23
Candi Staton’s Back To My Roots is released by Beracah Records in February