Blind Boys of Alabama – I’ll Find a Way

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blindboysThe Blind Boys of Alabama have been recording albums for over 60 years, and been together for over 70, so they are clearly doing a few things right. One of those things is maintaining the same spirit and fervor for gospel music that has characterized the band for so long, even if only one of the original members—Clarence Fountain—is alive and only records and performs sporadically. It also helps if you can put a fresh spin on your musical repertoire from time to time, and I’ll Find a Way has that in spades, making it an intriguing release.

This album has a little bit of everything, including the unexpected. Lively gospel-style covers of classic songs appear (“God Put a Rainbow in the Clouds”), a joyous version of the almost century-old “Take Your Burden to the Lord and Leave it There” ambles along like an old man rediscovering his youthful side, and “My God is Real” is a subtle, soulful piano jazz number that powerfully proclaims the Boys’ faith in God. This album features a number of solid moments that are right up the band’s alley.

Ah, but then there are the surprises. In addition to producing the record, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver duets with the Boys’ Jimmy Carter on a stirring cover of Bob Dylan’s “Every Grain of Sand,” and the results of this ambient piano ballad are enough to make your heart burst. In a year that has been filled with beautiful music, this is quite possibly the most beautiful song you will hear.

The one and only Patty Griffin also guests on the rollicking bluegrass Gospel closer “Jubilee,” Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs appears on “I’ve Been Searching” and several others guest on the album, helping to inject this record with a freshness and vitality that would not otherwise have been there. The album would have been fine without the presence of these other vocalists, to be sure, but adding them to the mix augments the power and stateliness of the album and elevates it to greater heights.

It takes something special for a band to last multiple albums, let alone multiple decades, and the Boys are indeed something special. With resonant harmonies that continue to shine and shimmer whether in moments of subdued introspection or sublime spiritual ecstasy, they continue to give life to gospel music in stirring new ways.

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