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The Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama have the rare distinction of being recognized around the world as both living legends and modern-day innovators. They are not just gospel singers borrowing from old traditions; the group helped to define those traditions in 20th century and almost single-handedly created a new gospel sound for the 21st. Since the original members first sang together as kids at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in the late 1930s (including Jimmy Carter, who leads the group today), the band has persevered through seven decades to become one of the most recognized and decorated roots music groups in the world.
Touring throughout the South during the Jim Crow era of the 1940s and 1950s, the Blind Boys flourished thanks to their unique sound, which blended the close harmonies of early jubilee gospel with the more fervent improvisations of hard gospel. In the early 1960s, the band sang at benefits for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and were a part of the soundtrack to the Civil Rights movement. But as the years passed, gospel fans started to drift away and follow the many singers who had originated in the church but were now recording secular popular music. And the Blind Boys, who refused many offers to ‘cross over’ to secular music, also saw their audiences dwindle. However, the Blind Boys persevered and their time came again, starting in the 1980s with their starring role in the Obie Award-winning musical “The Gospel at Colonus,” which began a new chapter in their incredible history. It’s almost unbelievable that a group of blind, African-American singers, who started out touring during a time of of whites-only bathrooms, restaurants and hotels, went on to win five Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and to perform at the White House for three different presidents.
Few would have expected them to still be going strong—stronger than ever, even— so many years after they first joined voices, but they’ve proved as productive and as musically ambitious in recent years as they did in the beginning. In 2001, they released Spirit of the Century on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label, mixing traditional church tunes with songs by Tom Waits and the Rolling Stones, and won the first of their Grammy Awards. The next year they backed Gabriel on his album Up and joined him on a world tour, although a bigger break may have come when David Simon chose their cover of Waits’ ‘Way Down in the Hole’ as the theme song for the first season of HBO’s acclaimed series The Wire. Subsequent Grammy-winning albums have found them working with the likes of Ben Harper, Aaron Neville, Mavis Staples, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Willie Nelson.
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The Blind Boys of Alabama: Spirit Of The Century and Higher Ground

by James Nadal
The experience of spiritual jubilation has taken The Blind Boys of Alabama far and wide from their southern roots. For over seventy years they have maintained their unwavering commitment to only sing in praise and service of the Lord, and they have succeeded on that. They take their role as guardians and bearers of the gospel tradition so serious, that it has been their solitary mission. Having recorded over sixty albums since their beginning as glee club singers at the ...
Continue ReadingBlind Boys of Alabama and Bob Dylan to Play White House Concert

Source:
JamBase
BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA, BOB DYLAN, JOHN LEGEND & MORE TO PERFORM AT WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESIDENT AND MRS. OBAMA
Blind Boys of Alabama Blind Boys of Alabama have been invited to perform at a special concert at the White House on February 10. In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music From the Civil Rights Movement will be held in the State Dining Room, and is timed to celebrate Black History Month.
The Blind Boys ...
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Blind Boys of Alabama on Gospel Music Channel

Source:
All About Jazz
Gospel Music Channel (http://www.gospelmusicchannel.com) television network will give viewers an exclusive sneak preview of the new concert DVD release from the legendary group The Blind Boys of Alabama when it world premieres Live in New Orleans on Monday, Feb 23 at 8:00 pm Eastern Time (encore at 11:30 pm.). The concert DVD of Live in New Orleans hits stores the next day, Feb. 24 via Saguaro Road Records (www.saguaroroad.com).
Live In New Orleans was filmed at the city's historic club ...
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Multi-Grammy Award Winning Blind Boys of Alabama Perform Gospel Inspired Holiday Program with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at the Kimmel Center on December 9

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Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
Multi Grammy® Award winning Blind Boys of Alabama perform the soul-stirring holiday gospel concert Go Tell It On the Mountain," sharing the stage with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at the Kimmel Center on Sunday, December 9, 2007 at 8pm. A staple in the music industry for performing traditional gospel since the 1940's and 1950's, the Blind Boys of Alabama reinvented itself in 2001 with the release of three consecutive Grammy®-award winning albums that rewrote traditional Southern gospel to include ...
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SF Jazz Presents Special Holiday Concert with The Five Blind Boys of Alabama

Source:
All About Jazz