Dear Evan Hansen
*The event has already taken place on this date: Sat, 12/21/2024
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The Blind Boys of Alabama are recognized worldwide as living legends of gospel music. Celebrated by The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and The Recording Academy/GRAMMYs with Lifetime Achievement Awards, inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and winners of six GRAMMY® Awards, they have attained the highest levels of achievement in a career that spans over 70 years. The Blind Boys are known for crossing multiple musical boundaries with their remarkable interpretations of everything from traditional gospel favorites to contemporary spiritual material by songwriters such as Eric Clapton, Prince, and Tom Waits. They have appeared on recordings with many artists, including Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Aaron Neville, Susan Tedeschi, Ben Harper, Patty Griffin, and Taj Mahal.
Blind Boys of Alabama released ’Echoes Of The South’ on Aug 25, 2023, which finds the Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductees coming home to honor those they’ve lost on a bold declaration of how far they still plan to go. The eleven-song collection is a portrait of perseverance from a group well-versed in overcoming incredible odds – 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. Recently, the group’s decades-long mission of spreading light and love has taken on even deeper context 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.”
In 2022, the group had a collaborative recording with Béla Fleck, nominated for a Grammy. The nominated collaboration, ”I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free,” powerfully reimagines the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement, originally made famous by Nina Simone. They also have had collaborative recordings and coinciding tours with both Marc Cohn and afro-pop duo Amadou & Mariam. In 2023, Blind Boys garnered another Grammy nomination for Best Americana Single for ‘The Message’ featuring Black Violin.
2024 started off the year with a return to the GRAMMY® Awards with three nominations and one win for Best Roots Gospel Album – ‘Echoes Of The South.’ This was followed by a sold-out tour in Australia and a sizzling performance with Sir Tom Jones during the Bluesfest Byron Bay (Australia), where video of their rehearsal reached 750K + views in 48 hours on social platforms. The definitive book, titled Spirit of the Century, was released in March 2024. It’s an insider history of the Blind Boys of Alabama, the longest-running group in American music, and the untold story of their world written with band members and key musical colleagues.
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