Gospel soul harmonies matched to pop, rock, blues and more

The Blind Boys of Alabama formed as a quartet in 1939 at what was then called the Alabama School for the Negro Deaf & Blind. All four members – three primary vocalists and a drummer – were blind. Of the four founders, two have passed, one has retired, and Clarence Fountain continues to tour with the group as his health allows. Like the Staple Singers, the Blind Boys of Alabama sing traditional material and bring their gospel harmonies to pop music. This collection pulls together fourteen collaborations in which the group backs up or sings alongside folk, rock, pop, country, blues, soul and reggae artists.

All but four of these tracks were previously released, but anthologizing them in a single place provides an amplified view of how the group’s gospel meshes into a variety of musical contexts, and how effortlessly the group pulls other artists into their embrace. Ben Harper’s soulful singing is a natural fit, as are Toots Hibbert’s and Solomon Burke’s. Randy Travis’ old-timey religion gives the group a jaunty rhythm, and the twangy guitar, solid backbeat and spoken blues of Charlie Musselwhite’s “I Had Trouble” is backed with Jordanaires-styled harmonies.

The acoustic “Welcome Table” provides Dan Zanes and the group a terrific arena for vocal interplay, even dropping in an a cappella verse. The spare blues of John Hammond’s “One Kind of Favor” finds the group harmonizing in a low hum, and the swing stylings of Asleep at the Wheel’s “The Devil Ain’t Lazy” offer a playful way to put across the song’s message. Perhaps most surprising is the pairing with Lou Reed on the Velvet Underground’s “Jesus.” Here the group’s harmonies shed the light of salvation upon Reed’s spent and broken monotone.

Timothy B. Schmit’s “Secular Praise” is the album’s newest track, and the cuts by Toots Hibbert, Lou Reed and John Hammond are each previously unreleased. All four are fine additions to the material that was drawn from ten different original artist’s albums. The group’s live and recorded work has received numerous accolades over the years, including film and TV placements and five Grammy awards, but their greatest compliments may just be these invitations to make music with their peers. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]