Alabama singer Candi Staton has crossed many musical timelines in her decades-long career, but with her newest release, Life Happens, Stanton has returned home to where her professional career started - Muscle Shoals.
Venturing again into Americana in her latest, Life Happens also features songs with the feel of funk, country, and soul. Staton invited some ringers of the Americana genre to play on the album’s first single, "I Ain’t Easy to Love," as The Civil Wars' John Paul White and Jason Isbell join Staton on vocals.
Known in the 1960’s as the “First Lady of Southern Soul,” Stanton earned 16 R&B hits for songwriter and producer Rick Hall’s legendary Fame Studios in Alabama.
Her career even excelled in the bling and beat of the disco era, as evidenced by her 1979 hit, "Young Hearts Run Free," Staton then settled into Gospel music for two decades, followed by a successful venture into the music of Americana with her critically acclaimed song of domestic violence, "His Hands."
Listen to more from Candi Staton in an interview from All Things Considered, Candi Staton: This Album Is 'An Anthology Of My Life.'
