Mavis Staples will perform tomorrow at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

In the late 1940s, Roebuck “Pops” Staples was a laborer by day, but also an aspiring musician. He was the patriarch of a musically gifted family that formed a gospel group to sing at local churches in and around Chicago. The family band, dubbed The Staple Singers, had put out records on small labels and by the mid-’50s were starting to gain notoriety on the gospel and R&B circuits. Pops and his children maintained a steady career through much of that and the following decade, but in the late ’60s going into the ’70s, the group took off.

The key to their sound was Pops’ songwriting combined with the potent voice of his youngest daughter, Mavis Staples. With inspirational hits like “Respect Yourself”, “I’ll Take You There” and “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me),” the Staple Singers became the country’s most successful gospel group, crossing over to the R&B and pop charts. Eventually, the body of work earned the ensemble a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“Pops always told me, ‘Mavis make it plain,'” said Staples, who will be performing tomorrow night at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. “You want the people to know what you’re talking about so sing from your heart. What comes from your heart reaches the heart.”

The Staple Singers started slowing down in the early ’90s and came to an end with Pops Staples’ death in 2000. The younger Staples initially struggled to find her footing, but that changed in the latter half of the ‘noughts when she began to seek out collaborators who were well-versed in American roots music. Staples put out 2007’s We’ll Never Turn Back with producer extraordinaire Ry Cooder. Her last two releases, You Are Not Alone (2010) and this year’s One True Vine were recorded with Wilco‘s Jeff Tweedy at the helm.

“Tweedy and I, we have worked together, spent time together, and so he knows me, writes songs for me,” Staples said of the partnership. “He would tell me that I needed to sing a certain line a certain way, or stay up on a certain word, and I would think he was missing it but I’d trust him and do it his way. Then he’d play it back and I’d tell him, ‘Shucks Tweedy, you were right!'”

Tomorrow’s audience can expect a healthy dose of material from One True Vine. The band also includes sister Yvonne, so Staple Singers classics will also make up a significant chunk of the setlist.

One thing that is apparent on her recent recordings is that, although Staples’ voice might not have the range it once had, it still carries the weight of experience. The instrument may not be as nimble, but it exudes emotion in a way that only comes with time.

“I wont stop. As long as I can sing and have my voice I will keep on,” Staples declared, almost in defiance of her 74 years. “I just had my knee replaced and my other knee is being done in December, so I will be like the bionic woman, just going and going.”

Mavis Staples will perform on Friday, November 8, 2013 at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. 8 p.m. Tickets $10-$50.