Legendary soul singer Mavis Staples , age 86, is walking into the front row of the audience at the intimate Soho Sessions , leading a singalong on the chorus of “I’ll Take You There,” the iconic 1972 hit she recorded with her father and siblings, the Staples Singers. “Come on now, now, y’all!” she exhorts. “A little bit louder — take us there! … Don’t you wanna go?!”

I’m standing by the bar near the side of the stage when someone walks up next to me to watch. I look — it’s Keith Richards.

He nods and gestures to the stage and says, “I’ve gotta follow her!” The musicians standing with him nod in sympathy.

Unaccustomed to reassuring a Rolling Stone, I say, “I think you’ll be fine, Keith.”

Needless to say, he was. Richards then took the stage and led current Rolling Stones drummer S

See Full Page