What was it like working with the Staple Singers?
Family. They’re my family. More than anybody in the music industry, the Staple Singers were like family to me. … Everybody always talks about Lester Flatt and Johnny Cash, but Pops Staples did as much for my life and encouraged me in ways that nobody else did — to be myself, to try to make a difference. He was one of the people that encouraged me to do the kind of records that I’m doing now. To Pops, it was never about the biggest rock ‘n’ roll numbers or the chart position or those kinds of things. He taught me that it was about the difference you make in people’s lives. Concerning Souls’ Chapel and Badlands, those kinds of projects … what I know already is that they’re the kind of projects that do make a difference in some people’s lives, and they touch me making them. It was a gift from God to get to do these projects. I think those are the kind of projects that Pops Staples would encourage me to keep doing. 19. What inspired you to sing the song — one of my favorites — “Farm
