Living Legacies
Jimmy Carter, one of the founding members of The Blind Boys of Alabama, discusses their latest New Orleans-flavored album, and what keeps driving them to perform after seven decades.
by Andree Farias | posted 4/21/2008
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The Blind Boys of Alabama are as much a living legend in gospel music as any. Already in its seventh decade of recording and performing, the quartet keeps going at it as if it were still 1944, the year the group first decided to step out in faith and leave the comfort zone of their school for the blind in Talladega, Florida to become touring singers. At first, they sang for predominantly black audiences in the South, but since the turn of the millennium, the Boys have experienced a renaissance of sorts, scoring a Grammy for every album they've released since 2001's Spirit of the Century, and amassing scores of new fan young and old. In this wide-ranging conversation, founding member Jimmy Carter talks about the group's new album, Down in New Orleans (Time-Life), as well as what drives them to keep going after all these years.
The Blind Boys of Alabama are hoping to stick around "a little while longer" to continue bridging their classic gospel sound with the contemporary.
You guys are living legends. Yet somehow, it seems gospel music itself isn't very good at paying homage to its own history—very few people are keeping tabs on preserving this legacy. What gives?
Jimmy Carter I agree with that. I hope we can stay out here just a little bit longer so we can try to fix that. Gospel, it'll never die; it'll always be. But as you said, there's not enough tribute paid to it—"it seems" that way 'cause it's true! We're going to stay out here as long as God lets us stay and we're going to try to let the people know about it and we're going to do our best to try to fix that.
When your previous album, Atom Bomb, came out in 2005, the Blind Boys were grieving the loss of your dear friend George Scott. What was it like for you to mourn one of the founding members of the group?
Carter Well, it was a very devastating loss. George was one of the original members and there would never be another George. But life goes on and he wouldn't want us to stop. So we got a new fellow to replace him, but he [could never] replace him. It was tough to lose George—very, very tough.
In light of George's death, do you ever catch yourself thinking about your own mortality?
Carter Well, you know, sometimes it crosses my mind, but I don't dwell on that. I think God still has a little more work for me to do before he calls me in. When he calls me, I'll go, but I think he has just a few more little things he wants me to do.
Such as?
Carter To still tell the people about him and his Son. I think he has a few more places that he wants to send us to before he calls us in.
Working with a replacement, how did your deep-set dynamic change? Was it hard to adjust?
Carter Well, no, he has to adjust to us; we don't adjust to him! He comes in and we audition him and check out his credentials and if his credentials are good, we go on with him.
In the last decade, your group has been renowned for singing traditional gospel music and spirituals to the sounds of rock 'n' roll and classic R&B. What is it that set you apart?
Carter Well, we have to be the revival and we're trying to relate to the young people, too. That's one reason why we collaborate with people like Ben Harper, Aaron Neville, and Peter Gabriel … they relate to younger folks. And now when we have our concerts, we find that we have more young people attending than there has been before.
Do you get a lot of opportunities to testify about Christ?
Carter We have many, many people who come and say that we've touched their lives. They felt good. Some of them have come depressed, sad. But when we got singing to them or talking to them, they found joy—they did feel something that they had never felt before.
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