VIA: Enterprise Newspaper
They’ve recorded with Peter Gabriel, and sang reggae with Toots Hibbert. Prince has joined them on stage. However, whether they’re embracing New Orleans jazz or performing alongside a rock star, the Blind Boys of Alabama are first, last and always a gospel group.
Though their reputation precedes them, it does not always prepare those unfamiliar with the Blind Boys’ fiery concert experience. Understanding this, lead vocalist Jimmy Carter paves the way with a little pre-show patter.
“When we go on stage, I tell the audience, ‘We’re the Blind Boys of Alabama… we’re a traditional gospel group, and we’ve come here to tonight to make you feel something you might have never felt before — the spirit of a living God,’” he explained.
“Now, if you’ve never heard gospel before, that’s gonna arouse your interest,” Carter asserted with a chuckle. The singer added, “I also like to tell them, the Blind Boys do not like to sing to a conservative crowd — we like a noisy crowd!”
As if audience participation is ever a worry. For seven decades, the electrifying Blind Boys of Alabama have put people on their feet and in the aisles as they have spread the message of peace, love and hope. Their ever-increasing popularity in secular circles has underscored the fact that so many music genres are rooted in gospel — which makes The Blind Boys of Alabama’s latest album, “Duets,” not surprising at all.
A compilation of guest appearances, “Duets” pairs the group a wide variety of artists, from Lou Reed to Randy Travis.
Carter, who was cheerfully evasive about his age — but ventured that he had yet to reach his 80s — said he listens to all kinds of music, and that common ground with musicians is indeed easy to find. “What people don’t know is that many of these artists we’ve recorded with have a gospel background… Ben Harper came out of the church, Aaron Neville came out of the church; same with Solomon Burke.
A musical kinship with avant-garde rocker Reed, however, is still an eye-opener.
“It was kind of odd,” Carter admits. “We’ve never worked with a fellow like that… it was unusual at first, but after we got to rehearsing and getting to know one another, it worked out pretty well.”
Reed joined the Blind Boys on Late Night With David Letterman last night, performing the song “Jesus.”
Carter sang with the young Blind Boys while attending the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind, where the group — spawned from the glee club — was formed in 1939. He went on to perform with the legendary, albeit lesser-known Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, as well as other gospel groups, until rejoining his old classmates decades later.
Now he is only active member with ties to the old school. Founding member Clarence Fountain is no longer performing with the group, and the others have passed on. However, their successors have carried the Blind Boys’ legacy on to new heights, winning multiple Grammys in recent years.
The current lineup consists of Carter, lead vocalists Bishop Billy Bowers and Ben Moore, along with guitarist Joey Williams, bassist Tracy Pierce, and drummer Ricky McKinnie.
A few members have their sight; others, including Carter and McKinnie, do not.
“I think the Lord called us to do this work,” Carter ventured. “I was born blind; I had five brothers who could see. I wondered… I asked God, ‘Why me?’ But I know the answer now. Had I been able to see, I don’t think I would be doing this work. I think He meant for me to do this work; this is why God denied me my sight.”
While discussing touring black churches during the Jim Crow era, Carter recalled, “In the segregated South back then, sometimes you would perform, and then have no decent place to eat, no decent place to stay. Sometimes, you had to sleep in your car. Sometimes you’d find a run-down black hotel.
“If you did find a decent restaurant, you had to go in the back,” he continued. “Sometimes it got frustrating, but we realized that this is what we had to do. It was tough, but I must say that we weren’t harassed by anybody, the Ku Klux Klan or anything like that.”
Of all the progress made in America during his long career, Carter, not surprisingly, pointed out one piece of unfinished business.
“I would like to see racism totally destroyed before I go,” he flatly stated. “We’re almost there, but there’s still some on all sides. We’re making headway… one day it will be completely done away with.”
The Blind Boys of Alabama will perform for the President and First Lady at the White House Feb. 10 as part of “A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement,” which will be broadcast on PBS the following night.
“I hope I get to shake the President’s hand,” said the singer.
It’s a safe bet that the feeling will be mutual.
