In the deep American South, a group of teenage siblings recorded their first album back in 1975. Like most gospel musicians of the time, they lacked the backing of a record company, and instead self-published 500 copies of When Do We Get Paid, to be sold at performances and from the family’s yard in Aberdeen, Mississippi.

Accompanied by drums, bass and guitar, they sang with a unique soulfulness, about hard work, suffering and salvation. They took the name Staples Jr. Singers as a tribute to the message of Mavis Staples’ songs.

The group hit the road on weekends, playing their groundbreakingly groovy gospel music to churchgoers along the American Bible Belt. Although the South was no longer segregated by law, in practice a group of black musicians could not expect to be welcomed as guests in restaurants and hotels. The experiences came to characterize the siblings’ songs in Staples Jr. Singers and in their other projects. Because even though life took them in different directions during the 80s, they remained active within the soul and church music scene of Mississippi.

But now, more than fifty years after the group formed, their music is embraced by audiences all over the world. This unexpected chapter in Staples Jr. Singer’s career began with David Byrne’s label Luaka Bop reissuing the soul-diamond in the rough that is When Do We Get Payed. Playing their first concerts outside the US, original members Edward Brown, A.R.C. Brown and Annie Brown Caldwell perform alongside their children as well as grandchildren on stage.