The Blind Boys of Alabama

Sunday, August 24, 2008
2:45 pm Main Stage
listen to music

"We've been together for six decades but we're still going strong. We're going to continue until God says it's enough," said Jimmy Carter upon receiving the Traditional Gospel Album of the Year honor for The Blind Boys of Alabama release, "Atom Bomb," at 37th annual GMA Music Awards in 2006.

That made five CONSECUTIVE albums that received Grammys and/or GMA Music Awards in five years. Now with the release of their first album in three years, they are back on the concert tour cicuit. Apparently,God has not said enough yet!

After performing together for over six decades, The Blind Boys of Alabama have enjoyed one of the more striking comebacks in recent memory. Their last several albums have earned these hipster septuagenarians the best reviews and record sales of their career, four Grammy Awards in a four year span, and a completely new, contemporary audience.

On this latest release, Down In New Orleans, The Blind Boys are backed by a trio of world-class New Orleans musicians: David Torkanowsky (piano), Roland Guerin (bass) and Shannon Powell (drums). Other guests include legendary pianist/producer and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Allen Toussaint, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and the horn-heavy Hot 8 Brass Band, one of the city's most vital young acts. But the band's deeply soulful and natural voices remain in the spotlight on 'Down In Orleans.'