Echoes of the South The Blind Boys of Alabama Artist

Following the death of {|Clarence Fountain|} in 2018, the {|Blind Boys of Alabama|} released {|Work to Do|} with singer/songwriter {|Marc Cohn|} in 2019. After resuming an intense post-pandemic touring schedule in 2021, they returned to the recording... Read more

Following the death of {|Clarence Fountain|} in 2018, the {|Blind Boys of Alabama|} released {|Work to Do|} with singer/songwriter {|Marc Cohn|} in 2019. After resuming an intense post-pandemic touring schedule in 2021, they returned to the recording studio in 2022 with producers {|Charles Driebe|}, {|Matt Ross-Spang|}, and {|Ben Tanner|}, as well as a crack quartet of studio aces who re-create the feel of '40s-era live gospel. {|Echoes of the South|} is joyous and bittersweet. Inspired by their debut appearance on WGSN radio in Alabama, this music honors the entire aesthetic of the live radio programs that made them. The bittersweet part is the result of the deaths of veteran members {|Ben Moore|} and {|Paul Beasley|} after recording the album, which is dedicated to them. 91-year-old founder/leader {|Jimmy Carter|}, the last remaining original member, focuses on tradition here: This is the music of gospel quartets to be sure, but also the music of the ongoing Civil Rights' struggles of both the {|Blind Boys|}' early career and the 21st century. Opener Send It on Down has been covered by everyone from {|Willie Neal Johnson|} & {|Gospel Keynotes|} to the {|Gaither Vocal Band|} (the stomping, joyous take here leaves the milquetoast latter version in the dust). Work Until My Days Are Done (closely associated with {|Albertina Walker|} and {|Dedicated Men of Zion|}) is rowdy with rollicking handclaps, choral shouts, tambourines, and a hard-swinging instrumental quartet. It's a gospel house rocker. A deep soul version of {|Homer Banks|}' classic Friendship -- closely associated with {|Pops Staples|} -- is at once stirring and welcoming in its conviction. The fiery testimony in You Can't Hurry God, likely written by {|Dorothy Love Coates|}, is a wooly paean to the spiritual values of faith and patience with a swaggering piano that ultimately inspired the {|Motown|} production and songwriting team of {|Holland-Dozier-Holland|} to compose You Can't Hurry Love for {|the Supremes|}. They answer it with Jesus You Been Good to Me, a deep soul-gospel jam with the best vocal acrobatics on the record thanks to {|Beasley|}'s soaring, resonant falsetto -- it recalls {|Curtis Mayfield|} during his time with the {|Impressions|}. Speaking of {|Mayfield|}, the {|Blind Boys|} deliver a tender, contemporary reinvention of his Keep on Pushin' in bluesy waltz time with a hip B-3 in interplay with the vocals. Jesus You've Been Good to Me evokes an affinity for the all-loving deity with a loose, grooving arrangement. Nothing But Love, composed by {|Fountain|}, offers testimony to the power of unwavering belief. A gritty, gravelly take on songwriter/producer {|Ron Miller|}'s {|Stevie Wonder|} anti-war, anti-gun, pro-Civil Rights vehicle Heaven Help Us All is showcased as a rocking, stomping, gospel benediction and closes the record. Ultimately, it offers an inspiring lyric focus that exhorts us to forget cheap grace and overly simplistic words as a means to salvation. It begs us to live in this wounded, bleeding world with hope amid darkness, difficulty, and tragedy. If this rootsy, raw album is the group's last, they can be very proud: It's one for the ages. ~ Thom Jurek Less