Arts at the Armory’s Spotlight Series is thrilled to bring Blind Boys of Alabama to their historic Performance Hall stage on March 14. Hailed as “gospel titans” by Rolling Stone, the Blind Boys of Alabama defied the considerable odds stacked against them in the segregated south, from singing for pocket change in the Jim Crow South, to performing for three different American presidents, soundtracking the Civil Rights movement and helping define modern gospel music as we know it.

Inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2003, the group has now won six Grammy Awards for their albums (plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award). At this month’s Grammy Awards, the Blind Boys won Best Roots Gospel album for Echoes of the South, and were nominated for two Echoes of the South song performances.

In September 2023, Blind Boys of Alabama released their latest album, Echoes of the South, which finds these living legends of Gospel coming home to honor those they have lost and making a bold declaration of how far they still plan to go.

The eleven-song collection is a portrait of perseverance and deepens the group’s decades-long mission of spreading light and love as they’ve reckoned with the loss of two of their own, Paul Beasley and Benjamin Moore, both longtime members of the Blind Boys tight-knit family. Echoes of the South is released in their honor – as well as for the group’s recently-retired leader Jimmy Carter – and keeps the Blind Boys’ long-held mission statement at its core: “As long as everybody gives all that they have to give and we sing songs that touch the heart, we’ll live on forever.”

On a collection named after the first radio show that ever booked the Blind Boys as guests (out of WSGN in Birmingham), Echoes of the South was tracked fully in their home state at The NuttHouse Recording Studio in Sheffield.

The Blind Boys’ rich history and own personal touches can be felt everywhere on Echoes of the South from including braille on the album cover for the first time to a track list of the music that’s most inspired them over their careers: long-lost gospel classics, traditional spirituals and timeless R&B/soul cuts made famous by artists like Pop Staples and Curtis Mayfield.

Teaming with each of their co-producers, these recordings transcend genre and era to touch deep and fundamental elements of friendship, joy, gratitude and persistence. The making of the album even inspired a short documentary film, This May Be the Last Time.

The Blind Boys do not show any sign of slowing down, with tour dates booked through 2025, and a new book due out in March entitled Spirit of the Century, which is an insider history of the band, the longest running group in American music, and the untold story of their world, written with band members and key musical colleagues.

The Blind Boys have collaborated with artists as diverse as Stevie Wonder, Chrissie Hynde, Lou Reed, Tom Waits, Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Raitt and Bon Iver. While winning multiple Grammys and being profiled on CBS’ 60 Minutes, the Blind Boys have left their mark on popular music by making gospel their own and “adding jazz and blues idioms, turning up the volume and creating a sound like the rock ‘n’ roll that grew out of it” (New York Times).

The Center for Arts at the Armory curates and produces the Spotlight Series to celebrate the diversity and culture of our community by bringing world-renowned performers, always paired with a local opening act, into our historic and intimate setting. The Spotlight Series puts the spotlight on local, national and international artists from diverse communities, and provides platforms that amplify these voices. The series includes music and comedy performances, as well as keynote speakers, to create immersive experiences sparking joy, inspiration, reflection, and intercultural learning.

March 14, 7:00 p.m. doors | 8:00 p.m. show.

Tickets: https://the-center-for-arts-at-the-armory.ticketleap.com/blind-boys-of-alabama/

The Center for Arts at the Armory is located at 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA 02143.

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