Gospel group to perform in Cohoes
COHOES, N.Y.» Five-time Grammy Award and Grammy Lifetime Award winning gospel group The Blind Boys of Alabama will be live this weekend at the Cohoes Music Hall.
Now in the act’s seventh decade of touring, The Blind Boys of Alabama are still sharing their music with the world, including at a local show this weekend in Cohoes.
The group is set to perform at 8 p.m. on Saturday at the Cohoes Music Hall, located at 58 Remsen St. in Cohoes.
Praised as pioneers, the blind musicians of this group have transcended barriers of race and genre to become one of the most acclaimed and celebrated groups in modern music.
Recorded over four different sessions helmed by four different Grammy-winning producers in four different cities, “Almost Home’ recounts the band’s remarkable journey, primarily through original songs written for them by a collection of artists including Valerie June, the North Mississippi Allstars, Phil Cook, John Leventhal, Marc Cohn, and Ruthie Foster among others.
The record is the band’s first in three years, following on the heels of 2014’s “Talkin’ Christmas!” with Taj Mahal.
At Saturday’s concert ,The Blind Boys of Alabama will be performing songs from the “Talkin’ Christmas!” album as well as the band’s previous Grammy-winning Christmas recording, “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” along with other Blind Boys gospel classics.
The Blind Boys of Alabama currently has two original members: long-time group leader Clarence Fountain and current leader Jimmy Carter. Both men were born in Alabama during the Great Depression, and while Carter is still ac-
tive and regularly touring with the group, Fountain’s health precludes him from traveling much these days, though he does appear on the album.
“These men were both raised as blind, African American males in the Deep South during the Jim Crow years, and they were sent to a school where the expectation for them was to one day make brooms or mops for a living,” said Blind Boys manager Charles Driebe in a press release. “But they’ve transcended all that. The arc of their lives and of the band reflects the arc of a lot of changes in American society, and we wanted to find a way to capture their experiences in songs.”
Given the age of the surviving original members, it’s not hard to hear the subtext of their latest album. In lines like “my work is done and I’m finally going home to see my maker,” they acknowledge that they’re closer to the end than the beginning. But rather than resting on their laurels, the band is adding a new chapter to their legacy, creating some of the finest work of their career as they solidify their place in musical history and American culture. The original members may be ‘Almost Home,’ but it’s clear the Blind Boys of Alabama intend to keep on singing, spreading peace, joy, and love until the very last note.
More information on the upcoming Blind Boys of Alabama performance at Cohoes Music Hall is available online at www.thecohoesmusichall.com.
Tickets are $52.50, $42.50 or $37.50 and can be purchased online, by phone at 518-465-4663 or at the Palace Theatre Box Office at 19 Clinton Ave. in Albany. Tickets can also be purchased the day of the event at the Cohoes Music Hall Box Office, which will open two hours prior to showtime.
Further information on The Blind Boys of Alabama and the group’s music is available online at www. blindboys.com.