Blind Boys of Alabama Offer New Album
The Blind Boys of Alabama have a brand new album out, 69 years after they first started performing in 1944. Now in their 70s and 80s, the boys continue to sing the gospel music they started with 70 years ago.
The Blind Boys of Alabama have been singing for more years than I have been alive on this earth, but, somehow I am just now discovering The Boys.
‘I’ll Find A Way’ is the Blind Boys newest studio effort featuring songs like God Put A Rainbow in the Cloud, I Shall Not Be Moved, and Every Grain of Sand, which was written by Bob Dylan during his days of doing Christian music.
It’s amazing that these men are still traveling, performing, and recording. One founding member, though, Clarence Fountain couldn’t make the trip to record the album due to is need for kidney dialysis three times a week. They were able to record his bass vocals and dub them in.
The Blind Boys of Alabama have won five Grammy Awards and four Gospel Music Awards, but Jimmy Carter, a founding member and now leader of the group says they aren’t interested in money or anything other than singing gospel. While a lot of artists , like Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye got their start in gospel before crossing over to pop, the Blind Boys stayed true to their roots decade after decade.
In regards to the new album, Carter says they the sing from the heart, and what comes from the heart, reaches the heart. He says, “If you have any feeling in you, you will feel the Blind Boys.”
Check out their rendition of Amazing Grace, sung to the tune of House of the Rising Sun.
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