The Blind Boys of Alabama-A Christmas Story

It’s impossible to write about the Blind Boys of Alabama without tackling religion and spirituality since this is the foundation of a career that has spanned seven decades, crossed popular musical boundaries, and defied all the conventions of gospel and mainstream music. They have performed and recorded with popular musicians and gained cross-over chart success beyond all expectations. Some of their collaborators have included Tom Waits, Ben Harper, Willie Nelson, Lou Reed, and their current release with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, I’ll Find a Way. 

They have never compromised their message or its meaning. They remain singing preachers, testifying to what they know to be true: there is a God who they found in Jesus Christ and He is present in their lives and most important, though their music.

While so many groups and factions today promote an image of believing Christians who are narrow-minded, intolerant, and even, in some extreme cases, filled with hatred; The Blind Boys of Alabama shine a light that trivializes and minimizes the twists of the haters and the misrepresentations of the biased. At the same time, as they break the mold of preconceived notions, they transform their faith, through their music, into something that burns as it purifies, cleanses, and heals. They are our most accessible prophets. The Jesus they sing about is not the one invented by small-minded people back in the 50’s.  They don’t sing to a crew-cut Jesus who waves a flag and seeks to bend souls into ideological conformity through incantations and easy formulas. This Jesus, the Jesus of The Blind Boys of Alabama, is the Jesus of mercy who loves the imperfections in humanity, who reaches deep within us to find the most loving qualities and to help us uncover our most secret heart. He is the Jesus of St. Frances of Assisi, Aretha Franklin and Van Morrison. This is the Jesus who comes through the voices of The Blind Boys.  

As The Blind Boys tour today, with their elder, Jimmy(aka “Jimster”) Carter, who has been a member since the 40s, they bring with them a legacy that includes five Grammys and four Gospel Music Awards. They have recorded a multitude of albums and they have traveled all over the planet. 

So, I sit here in the midst of Ordinary Time, preparing for the holy Christian season of Advent. It’s an unusual time in our nation’s history. Never has there been a more divisive socio-political period during my lifetime. There’s such darkness along the American landscape, it is sometimes a challenge to tune into any one perspective without feeling angst and stress. But, beyond that, deeper in the darkness, there is this period Christians call Advent when Mary waited for her child to be born. It’s a time of waiting for gifts of healing and peace from wise men who travel by star to find a sacred baby.  It is inherent in the Christian ethos, this winter waiting. When Christmas dawns, there is celebration of new life.

Advent is by its nature feminine. As the Virgin Mary waits for her coming child, she is like the times we live in, pregnant with possibilities waiting for the birth of truth. She waits for this divine gift. As of this writing, in a few days we remember the loss of a Once and Future King, President John F. Kennedy. It’s a cruel reminder of how, in our times, the visionaries are murdered while evil seems to keep going at a fast clip with ever-blinding ideology and propaganda. But, as Advent passes, with Christmas comes gifts. Certainly the gift of music crosses space and time and moves through us to form a lasting peace. I know it has the potential. 

The Blind Boys of Alabama may be blind, but they see far more than many sighted people. They have been unafraid to go where they feel called and to open doors that have been closed to gospel singers of times past. Where ever they go, like those three kings in the traditional Christmas story, they bring gifts; through their music, their voices. Those that voices echo across the long valleys of time. They have lasted through racism, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, Watergate, Disco, Punk, economic downturns, affluence, recession, riots, technological progress, two unnecessary wars, and what seems today like a return to racism.  As they sing they are following the example of their Lord. They are going out to the sinners and the saints, to those on the outskirts, vulnerable and broken; to the rich and poor alike. They reach out to the powerful and the weak with the same message of unconditional love, surrender and redemption for all. As they walk a sometimes dangerous ground, they are aware of the higher ground they move toward. Their music inspires rather than preaches; they convince by their own conviction rather than by manipulation, guilt or the petty drive of self-righteousness. Their audience doesn’t have to be converted to any point of view to enjoy their music. Those voices will lead them down the right path, whatever that may be for each individual. The best religious and spiritual truth is personal and universal. The best in the Blind Boys of Alabama carries the same qualities.

I had the pleasure of attending a Hollywood recording session where the Blind Boys had been hired to provide background tracks for an up-and-coming Americana group, William Pilgrim. This new band consists of a writer, producer, instrumentalist PM Romero and Ish Herring, a young African American, fresh off the streets. As we sat in the control room, the gospel singers listened to the rough mix of the recording of a song with the tag line “there will be peace.” That was the extent of their lyrical contribution, which would last a little over a minute. The four artists sat together on the couch holding their canes and listening carefully. In seconds three of them, Ben Moore, Eric “Ricky” McKinnie, and Joey Williams, had the harmonies nearly ready to go. It was magic to hear those three voices, in near-perfect blend, create their part with such ease. They worked for an hour sitting on the couch in the control room and laid down the track in a half an hour. Then, the lead vocalist, Jimmy Carter, was escorted in to provide a vocal track over the three-part harmony chorus and Ish’s lead vocal. Jimmy preached as he sang. You could hear James Brown, Otis Redding and Sam Cooke coming through his voice. He had it nailed down and mastered within five minutes, requiring only one take. After he finished everyone in the studio remained silent for a few seconds and then began to applaud.That experience was and is a perfect reminder of the greatest gift of promise to expect from the Christmas season, “There Will Be Peace,” as 84 year-old Jimmy Carter sang in tandem with 28-year-old Ish Herring that day in Hollywood. Peace is not passive but demands a pro-active response to the chaos in the world today.  The best demonstration of the active nature of peace can be found in music and its makers. The Blind Boys of Alabama seem to represent those wise men from some remote time in history, bringing the gift of music as their response to the darkness. All we need do is listen to those voices. The music will do the rest.