Blind Boys of Alabama

“Well, here we are: Blind Boys of Alabama,” gospel great Jimmy Carter shouts over a rising tide of hums and drums at the start of 2023’s Echoes of the South. “You know, we’ve been around a long time, but the good news is, we’re still here.” Indeed, by many counts, the Blind Boys of Alabama—founded in Talladega before the United States had even entered World War II—is the country’s longest-running group, enduring deaths and retirements to not only deliver triumphant Southern gospel but also to situate that sound in bold new contexts. Few other groups in any setting are as engaged with the past of their form and its future as the Blind Boys of Alabama.

Made in a series of northern Alabama studios, Echoes of the South is a raw wonder, from their soulful drift through “Wide River to Cross” to their pew-slapping and buoyant version of “You Can’t Hurry God.” Their take on Stevie Wonder’s “Heaven Help Us All” speaks to the country’s unresolved civil rights struggles, while a ragged but thundering “The Last Time” speaks to the cycle of death and renewal the Blind Boys have long navigated. (Indeed, Carter retired after these sessions, and two longtime members soon passed.) They have, however, also collaborated with Prince, Bon Iver, Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Ben Harper, and dozens of others, always finding fresh contexts for their sound, to make sure that, even nearing a century mark, there’s still plenty of reason to be here.