Grammy-winning Blind Boys of Alabama headed to Orange for Christmas concert

More than seven decades ago, they emerged from the simmering divide of the Jim Crow South to form a gospel band of African American blind boys.

Performing for U.S. presidents and at civil rights rallies with Martin Luther King Jr., the Blind Boys of Alabama came to form the marrow of the modern gospel scene, both representing the traditional sound of the Deep South as well as blueprinting its evolution.

The band is slated to perform a Christmas concert on Dec. 15 at the Musco Center for the Arts in Orange.

“They have been together for such a long time that they tie us to the root of American music,” said Richard Bryant, executive director at Musco Center for the Arts. “All original American music is infused with what the Blind Boys are.

“They aren’t a copy of anything. They are the real deal. American music at its origins.”

The Blind Boys formed in 1939 after meeting at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in Talladega in the midst of Jim Crow segregation. Each member had a deep love for gospel singing, so they decided to start a group.

Jimmy Carter, the band’s last active member, said in a phone interview that during the group’s infancy amid World War II, the boys would sneak off the school campus on Sundays to entertain soldiers at a nearby military camp.

“We could sing though, man,” Carter, 85, of Birmingham, Ala. said in a Southern drawl. “They would pay us a little bit too. That was good.”

During the Civil Rights era, the group performed at rallies with Martin Luther King Jr.

Carter said he never had a chance to meet the civil rights activist, but was moved by his speeches.

“He was very eloquent,” Carter said. “I loved to hear him talk.”

The Blind Boys went on to play for Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama in the East Room of the White House. In 2001, the group received a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album for “Spirit of the Century.”

The Blind Boys have since received four more Grammys and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a testament to the vast journey from a school for blind children to the White House.

Although the group’s personnel has changed over the years as members have died or retired, Carter has remained a fixture.

“When people ask me how I am still touring at 85 I tell them I love what I do, and when you love what you do, that keeps you motivated,” Carter said. “When you know you are touching people’s lives and giving them hope and encouragement, that keeps you going on.”

Carter believes music can be a lantern in the dark, providing hope to the masses during trying times.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the group traveled to New Orleans to try to lift the spirits of a battered people.

“I told people, ‘We can’t use a hammer or a nail, but we can sing for you and give you encouragement and hope,’ ” Carter said. “And that’s what we did.”

If You Go

What: Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas concert

Where: Musco Center for the Arts, Chapman University, 415 N. Glassell St., Orange

When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 15

Cost: $35 to $65

Information: (844) 626-8726 or muscocenter.org

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