If you Google “The Blind Boys of Alabama,” you’ll easily find a million recounts of their astounding 82-years-and-growing story. Every profile, article, and review will (rightly) key in on all the fabled career highlights: Their formation as kids at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in the late 1930s. Their tours across the Jim Crow–era South. Their influential contribution to the exciting “hard gospel” sound. Their involvement in the Civil Rights movement. Their Obie and Grammy Award wins. Their 21st-century resurgence and star-studded collaborations. But …
There’s a different way to learn about the Blind Boys’ story before they return to Ravinia on September 11. It won’t be from something you read. It’ll be from something that you hear. But most important, it’ll be straight from the source and something you’ll feel.
Beginning in 2016, longtime Blind Boys leader Clarence Fountain (who passed away in 2018) and current leader Jimmy Carter shared tales from their lives and career with multiple songwriters (including Ruthie Foster, Cris Jacobs, Valerie June, and Phil Cook). The tunesmiths then took these stories and shaped them into tracks that appear on 2017’s Almost Home album—an emotive aural memoir that immerses the listener so deeply in the group’s story, one almost feels like they were along for the whole ride. Even the covers that pepper the album, like Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” or Billy Joe Shaver’s “Live Forever,” fit seamlessly into the overall flow and help drive the mesmerizing narrative of perseverance, hope, and joy. The piece communicates where the group comes from, who they are, what they believe, and where they’ve been more than any interview, article, or bio ever could.
Almost Home can feel like a pitch-perfect autobiographical farewell to touring and recording albums, but the Blind Boys still have a lot of “hard gospel” to preach. In 2019 they collaborated with singer-songwriter Marc Cohn on Work to Do, and this year they released a single covering of the Civil Rights anthem “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” with master banjoist Béla Fleck.
And so, The Blind Boys of Alabama’s story continues. It’s a long one, and it’s still a great one. So sit back, relax, and let them tell it to you in song. Nothing and no one else will help you learn about and appreciate them better. Certainly not this blog. And definitely not Google.