CLEVELAND, Ohio — Gospel and soul pop legend Mavis Staples will answer the prayers of those longing for a return of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Music Masters series, albeit in a new format called Rock Hall Honors.
Staples, inducted into the Rock Hall along with her family group the Staple Singers in 1999, will be the first honoree of the revamped program that includes a symposium at Case Western Reserve University on Thursday, Sept. 19; a concert starring Staples herself at Playhouse Square’s State Theatre on Friday, Sept. 20; and a fan day at the museum itself that will feature live music, a new Mavis Staples exhibit and more on Saturday, Sept. 21.
It’s the first installment of the show since the museum honored the late Johnny Cash in October 2016.
“We’ve been on hiatus for two years,” said museum President and CEO Greg Harris in an exclusive telephone interview with The Plain Dealer. “This show is the return of it [and] it picks up the best of Music Masters in that it celebrates the artist for their career contribution and how they’ve changed the sonic landscape of our lives.
“The significant difference is that the featured artist will be performing for the bulk of the evening,” Harris said.
That’s the single largest change from the Music Masters format, he noted. In the 20 Music Masters programs since it began as American Music Masters in 1996, the artist would attend, but only do a couple of songs, if that.
“If they were alive, they’d attend and watch others do their songs,” Harris said. “We had Don Everly do that. We had Aretha Franklin do that, and Jerry Lee [Lewis] did that.
“Those were amazing shows,” he acknowledged, in particular the Everly Brothers event that brought tears to everyone in the house when surviving brother Don, who previously had said he would not perform, took the microphone at the behest of Graham Nash to sing the chorus of “Bye, Bye Love.”
But through questioning fans, the Rock Hall determined that “the audience wanted to hear the honoree, if possible,” he said.
“It was a show that had the same format for 20 years,” Harris said. “We all loved it and it was a great evening. But underneath it all, it took a lot of effort and energy to get that 90-minute show onstage.
“As we looked at the model and the interest we were getting, the idea of making it almost a featured concert to celebrate the artist, with a few guests, came about as a real strong direction to go in,” he said. “We tested that with some of our strong supporters of Music Masters, and they liked that idea.”
In the two-year hiatus, the “energy” of which he spoke has been put toward increasing the amount of live music at the museum itself — this summer has featured more than 80 live performances, some on the Rock Hall plaza and some on the museum’s outdoor PNC Stage.
And he added that it takes the same amount of “energy” to book a full show as it does to book one in which the artist merely did a couple of songs, if that.
The Rock Hall Honors show is designed to be the kicker to the museum’s summerlong series of live music programs.
The Staples show will include only a couple of guest artists, rather than the 10 or so who were part of every Music Masters event, Harris said. He wouldn’t disclose who those artists will be yet, but noted that in the course of her long career, Staples has collaborated with everyone from Dolly Parton to Jason Isbell to Brandi Carlile to Norah Jones to Emmylou Harris.
But there’s no doubt who the star will be.
“The bulk of it will be Mavis and her band handling those duties,” said Harris. “Our Rock Hall team, led by Jason Hanley [vice president of education and visitor engagement] will be working as music directors to help guide the show.
“I’ll be involved, as well as a few others here,” he said. “We’ve got a set list that we think provides a great lens on [Staples’] career, and the video pieces will work with it.”
“I am so thrilled to receive the Rock Hall Honors tribute,” said Staples in a statement released by the museum. “When my family, the Staple Singers, were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, it was exciting for the whole family.
“For me to now come back on my own as a solo artist to receive this honor is just beyond belief and I know my father, Pops Staples, would be so proud,” Staples said in the statement.
Tickets, starting at $30, plus fees, go on sale at 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 16, at the Playhouse Square box office, at playhousesquare.org and by phone at 216-241-6000. Rock Hall members and donors get a two-day head start on the general public. A limited number of premium seats and VIP packages, PRICE, will be available at the Rock Hall’s development office at 216-515-1201 or via email at development@rockhall.org. Those prices have not yet been set, according to a Rock Hall spokeswoman.