Annie and the Caldwells: Can’t Lose My (Soul) review – a joyous gospel family affair

(Luaka Bop)
Matriarch Annie Caldwells’s soaring voice steals the show in this Mississippi band’s spiritual, soulful debut

Multigenerational gospel soul group Annie and the Caldwells are the rarest of things: a genuinely homespun family band. Formed in the 1980s as a way for matriarch Annie to keep her four children out of trouble, the group have spent the past four decades honing their richly melodic sound in their home town of West Point, Mississippi.

Their debut album, Can’t Lose My (Soul), arrives on the heels of the acclaimed 2022 reissue of Annie’s 1975 gospel record with her brothers the Staples Jr Singers, When Do We Get Paid, and its six tracks cover similar ground of spiritual struggle, redemption and grace with an updated, punchy backing track.