Mavis Staples & Jeff Tweedy Ride Down The ‘Freedom Highway’ On ‘Colbert’

Mavis Staples and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy once again shared the stage together during a performance on last night’s episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The longtime collaborators linked up on “Freedom Highway,” the powerful song written by Mavis’ late father Roebuck “Pops” Staples.

“Freedom Highway” was the title track to the 1965 album by The Staple Singers, which they recorded at Chicago’s New Nazareth Church. The legendary gospel/soul/R&B group was led by Pops and included Mavis and her siblings Cleotha Staples, Yvonne Staples and Pervis Staples. According to the liner notes accompanying the album, “Freedom Highway” was written in March 1965, “At the time Rev. Martin Luther King led the momentous Freedom March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.”

This week The Late Show aired live from Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre in conjunction with the Democratic National Convention happening at the nearby United Center. Watch longtime Chicago resident Jeff Tweedy and 85-year-old Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee Mavis Staples performing “Freedom Highway” last night in the Windy City below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CoTCV9dJ6M