Congratulations to five-time GRAMMY winners and Gospel Music Hall of Famers The Blind Boys of Alabama on their 2024 Grammy nominations for Best American Roots Performance (“Heaven Help Us All,”) Best Americana Performance (“Friendship”) and Best Roots Gospel Album (Echoes of the South). With today’s nominations, which are the most-ever in a single year for the group, The Blind Boys of Alabama are now 16-time Grammy nominees. Their first Grammy nomination was 52 years ago for their self-titled album at the time The Five Blind Boys of Alabama. Listen to Echoes of the South here.
Echoes of the South, released in September, is the Blind Boys’ first new album in six years, and the first made entirely in their home state. The eleven-song collection is a declaration of their tenacity over the span of 80 years: from singing for pocket change in the Jim Crow South, to performing for three different American presidents, “soundtracking the Civil Rights movement” (CNN) and helping to define - and redefine - modern gospel music as we know it. It also finds the Blind Boys paying profound tribute to two members they've recently lost - Benjamin Moore and Paul Beasley.
The Echoes of the South tracklist draws on the music that's most inspired them throughout their careers: long-lost gospel classics, traditional spirituals and timeless R&B/soul cuts made famous by artists like Stevie Wonder, Pops Staples and Curtis Mayfield. Echoes Of The South was co-produced by Matt Ross-Spang (Margo Price, John Prine), Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes, Jason Isbell) and Charles Driebe. The album is named for the first radio show that ever booked the Blind Boys as guests (out of WSGN in Birmingham), and the cover art features braille for the first time — two of the many personal touches that establish Echoes Of The South as a "homecoming" in so many senses of the word.
The Blind Boys will continue to bring their life-affirming music and message across the globe, with a slate of North American tour dates announced into 2024, including their Christmas tour which begins in Atlanta on 11/20. For more information and all upcoming tour dates, please visit http://www.blindboys.com/
BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA TOUR DATES
11/15 - Wexner Center for The Arts - Columbus, OH
11/16 - City Winery Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh, PA
11/19 - Edwin J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall - Akron, OH
11/20 - Eddie's Attic - Decatur, GA, United States
11/24 - Single Lock Records: 10th Anniversary Celebration - Florence, AL
11/25 - The Lincoln Center - Fort Collins, CO
11/26 - Lone Tree Arts Center - Lone Tree, CO
11/28 - Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, AZ
11/29 - Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, AZ
12/1 - Jefferson Performing Arts Center - Metairie, LA
12/3 - Brown County Music Center - Nashville, IN
12/5 - St. Cecilia Music Center - Grand Rapids, MI
12/7 - Jazz Alley - Seattle, WA
12/8 - Jazz Alley - Seattle, WA
12/9 - Jazz Alley - Seattle, WA
12/10 - Jazz Alley - Seattle, WA
12/12 - Sweetwater Music Hall - Mill Valley, CA
12/13 - The Center for The Arts - Grass Valley, CA
12/14 - Nashville Social Club Carson City - Carson City, NV
12/16 - Central Park Performing Arts Center - Largo, FL
12/17 - Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County - Miami, FL
12/13-12/20 - Sandy Beaches Cruise 2024 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
2/7 - Belly Up - Solana Beach, CA