**Annie & the Caldwells**
Annie Caldwells says, “My family is my band,” and so naturally the history of the band—and their music—dovetails with the family’s real life. ANNIE & THE CALDWELLS are a family that plays a powerful disco soul from West Point, Mississippi. When Annie was 16 years old, in Aberdeen, Mississippi, she played in a band with her brothers (they were called the Staples Jr. Singers, a group of teenagers with a single album recorded in the 1970s). One day, the Staples Jrs. were singing on a church program in West Point, when a guitarist who played with one of Annie’s brothers in another band heard her and said, “Who — is that?” That moment Annie met Willie Joe Caldwell, Sr., her husband of the last fifty years, and the co-founder and guitarist for the Caldwells who supports his family’s high-flying vocals with fuzzy, psychedelic riffs.
Annie and Joe got married so young that their parents had to sign for them. They started their own family, and Annie opened a store on Main Street in West Point called Caldwell Fashions—which has been a beloved staple for women dressing for COGIC (Church Of God In Christ) convocations and church anniversaries since the ’80s. Things changed for the Caldwells when their eldest daughter was old enough to be invited to sing at a high school talent show. The Caldwells were shocked that their daughter was singing the blues—“the blues!” for Annie, means any music of any genre that doesn’t speak the gospel.
“We thought, if we don’t do something, the devil’s going to get her,” Annie said. “We decided we better get these children because people wanted them to sing in places where they played the blues, and I didn’t want that.”
You may also like the following events from Zebulon Café Concert:
- This month, 24th June, 08:00 pm, David J (of Bauhaus / Love and Rockets), Blone Noble in Los Angeles
- This month, 25th June, 08:00 pm, El’Zabar Murray Duo Sonic Motion Tour (Sir Kahil El’Zabar & David Murray) in Los Angeles
- Next month, 3rd July, 10:00 pm, ABBA Night in Los Angeles
Also check out other
Music events in Los Angeles,
Entertainment events in Los Angeles,
Parties in Los Angeles.
