Annie and the Caldwells

about

Growing up, Annie Brown Caldwell was often asked why she wasn’t singing lead more often on songs by her family’s group, Staples Jr. Singers. Her vocal power was never in doubt: Her brothers could belt with soulful, raspy wails, but when Annie channeled Mavis Staples in their rendition of “Somebody Save Me,” she shook the rafters. Politely, Caldwell would respond to the question with, “In due time.” That was Annie’s life in the 1970s. Now, with the 40 years-in-the-making release of her debut album as Annie & The Caldwells, she attributes her shift to center stage to Divine intervention. “The Lord showed me that he made me the head, not the tail,” she says. As their popularity grew, the siblings took up the name the Staples Jr. Singers, inspired by their frequent comparisons to the American gospel and R&B group The Staple Singers. When Annie was only 13, the Staples Jr. Singers (with her brothers A.R.C., Bobby, Cleveland, and Edward) self-funded their 1975 album When Do We Get Paid. The group managed to sell a few hundred copies—mostly on the front lawn outside their house. That record found its way into crate-digging infamy, with original copies fetching up to $700 on Discogs. In 2022, Luaka Bop reissued When Do We Get Paid and requested a follow-up, which became 2024’s Searching. But that’s only half of Annie’s story. When Annie was in high school, the family band dropped the Staples name, performing instead as the Browns. After a performance at a church in West Point, Mi

top songs

albums

Can't Lose My (Soul)

Wrong

We Made It

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Wrong (A Kornél Kovács Production)

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Wrong (You Dropped a Bomb) [Nicky Siano Remix]

Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right (Mixes – Part II)

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Wrong (An Alexis Taylor Production)

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I Made It (A Rahaan Production)

Answer Me

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Wrong (Ryan Hope's Pinerock Mix)

I Made It (A musclecars Production)

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I Made It (A Justin Strauss Production)

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