By Tom Crenshaw, tom@rockom.net
Since 1939, The Blind Boys of Alabama have sung a fervent blend of traditional and contemporary Gospel music. Much has changed during these seven prolific decades. Stylistic phases have waxed and waned; personnel has come and gone. 78 r.p.m. records have given way to LPs, followed by eight-track tapes, cassettes, and CDs. The Blind Boys’ audience – once rigidly segregated and confined to traditional Gospel venues – now reflects the group’s eclectic, global following, while their repertoire has expanded to embrace secular songs with a strongly spiritual message. Such wide acceptance is also evidenced by four Grammy Awards with a fifth Grammy nomination just announced for their latest release, Down in New Orleans. The Blind Boys’ lengthy saga remains a steadfast testament to constancy.
It’s very hard to fathom the history, the tradition, the momentum and the relevance that is The Blind Boys of Alabama. If you want a lesson in Americana Music, this is about the best starting point I can think of. The sheer fact that after seven decades of performing The Blind Boys are still touring, still packing houses and garnering Grammy Award nominations… who still does that?
RockOm: The Blind Boys of Alabama are nominated for a 2008 Stellar Award for Quartet of the Year and your latest release on Time Life Records, Down in New Orleans, has garnered the quartet some resounding accolades. Rolling Stones magazine says, “A super weapon of roots-music uplift,” and The Washington Post says, “Inspired and relevant… borders on the miraculous.” How does all this feel to you and to what do you owe this resurgence of the group’s relevance?
Ricky McKinnie: The Blind Boys of Alabama are a Gospel group. All of our families grew up in the church and so our faith is what has kept us on the road this long. I feel like it’s all about what’s in the Word. The Bible says, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men.” That’s the reason the Blind Boys’ songs have been so effective throughout the years because we have stuck to singing Gospel music. That’s what we do. We try to do it to the uplifting of God and we try to do it the best that we can.
RockOm: Since 1939 The Blind Boys of Alabama have been serving others through music, especially Gospel music. Has Gospel music changed over the years?
Ricky McKinnie: In 1939, The Blind Boys of Alabama were originally called The Happy Land Jubilee Singers because Jubilee was the music of the day. In 1944, that’s when The Blind Boys of Alabama came into being through a contest a gentleman in New Jersey had where he had a group out of Mississippi called the Jackson Harmoneers. He said, “I got an idea, I’m going to take the Blind Boys from Alabama [and put them up against] the Blind Boys of Mississippi” [The Jackson Harmoneers.] That’s where those two names came in.
Music changes with the times. We have sung different types of music from different times. We sing some soul-style and Gospel. On one of our albums we have a rap song. With Jubilee [music], it was the beginning of rap music. That’s were rap all started. I think that music is like this: the young people of the day, they like contemporary music so if that’s what they like, the music style is going to pretty much be on that style, be it gospel or R&B. That’s what makes the difference. It’s not about the music. It’s about the times and we try to deal with the times.
RockOm: Why does music, especially Gospel, evoke such soul and passion? Can music in general bridge religious and cultural barriers?
Ricky McKinnie: When you speak of music, music is universal. It has no boundaries. I found out that what’s from the heart, reaches the heart; and if you sing straight from the soul, that’s what makes the difference. People can tell when you are real and you’re singing, or when you’re just faking it. What we try and do is go out there and give the people what we’ve got. We come straight from the heart to the people. Most times there is someone that comes up to say they felt something from our music.
RockOm: The quartet worked with some pretty heavy hitters on Down in New Orleans. Tell us about working with a Dixieland sound. Did the quartet find this a nice diversion from some of the past recordings?
Rickie McKinnie: Yes, we went to New Orleans do that record. First of all we went down realizing that we couldn’t go down to rebuild the city with a hammer or a nail. So, we thought we’d take our voices and go down to try and uplift the spirits of the people. We got back to New Orleans, the first time, to see some of the devastation that had gone on there; and we realized that the people still needed something, that the hope that our music brings is what they needed. So what we did, we got with some of the best musicians down there. The Hot 8 Band, The Preservation Hall Band, Allen Toussaint and others- and we put together a record that was built up on that sound, the Dixie Land style. Nobody does it better than the people from New Orleans. We got them doing what they do and we did what we do; we sang the Gospel music, put our vocals with their music style, and we came up with the record. I think it’s a really great success. The tour has been good and it’s been a great success.
RockOm: What was it like working with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-er Allen Toussaint?
Rickie McKinnie: I think he is one of the nicest people that I have met in a long time. He was easy to work with. He didn’t mind coming and just fit in. I think he’s a real great gentleman.
RockOm: One of the original Blind Boys, George Scott, passed away in 2005. Do you guys still feel his presence when you’re performing?
Rickie McKinnie: [The death of] George Scott ended an era with the Blind Boys. I called George Scott, and the world called George Scott the Jubilee King because Jubilee is what he done. He was the Jubilee singer for the Blind Boys. We can sing Jubilee but nobody does it better than George Scott did. So, whenever we’re singing a song, we can always feel the presence and miss George Scott being there because he had a sound of his own.
RockOm: Tell us what you feel when you’re performing. You lost your eyesight some time ago to glaucoma. Have your other senses compensated for that loss?
Rickie McKinnie: Anytime that I’m at a Blind Boys Concerts or I’m at a concert, the vibe of the people makes the difference. In order to get an emotion, you have to show emotion, and I try to let the people feel what I feel. When you come to a Blind Boys concert, if you come feeling sad, you’re going to feel glad. We don’t mind doing a little dance and singing a song. You can sing along. We go out into the audience where the people can literally shake our hands and know that they’re a part of what’s going on. They just don’t come to see the program. They come to be the program.
RockOm: Is that the point in the show when you feel like the audience has really got you or is there an earlier point?
Ricky McKinnie: When we first start singing and first walk out to the announcement, “Four-time Grammy Award winners, The Blind Boys of Alabama,” and the crowd goes up (we don’t like a conservative crowd), [we know] they’ve come to have a good time. They have us from the beginning.
RockOm: Do the boys ever sit down together and go over how your lives and careers have unfolded? Do you believe things could have been different, should have been different?
Rickie McKinnie: We look at life like this. The Blind Boys have always been dreamers, but nothing comes to a sleeper but a dream. If you can dream a dream, do the work and keep the faith, everything usually works out fine. My motto is, “I’m not blind, I just can’t see,” and that means even though I lost my sight, I didn’t lose my direction. That’s what it’s all about. Our main thing is to let people know that a disability doesn’t have to be a handicap. It’s not about what you can’t do that makes a difference. It’s about what you can do that makes it happen. That’s what it’s all about.
RockOm: Surely over the years you’ve been approached to do various projects, probably some off-the-wall things, and you’ve stuck with what you do. How do you feel when people want you to do something different than Gospel or what you’re used to doing?
Ricky McKinnie: In every situation, in life itself, people are going to come to you with different things on their minds, different suggestions, but when you are grounded and rooted in a situation, you don’t have a problem saying no. We have been asked to sing a lot of different songs. A lot of songwriters bring songs to us that just don’t fit what we do, so we just say no, and go on and do what we do - sing the gospel.
RockOm: How much further can music continue to bridge the gap between Gospel and contemporary? What more can be done?
Rickie McKinnie: When it comes down to music, there’s always something that can be done. There are no boundaries when it comes down to music. We have to realize that God is. God is everything. God is hope. God is what you need and Gospel music, be it contemporary or traditional or whatever it may be called, as long as the music is inspiring, that’s what makes the difference. There’s always something to be done. We keep open minds and we let people know just because you might not be the choice, it doesn’t mean you don’t have the ability.
RockOm: What do the Blind Boys want to do in the near future as far as recording and performing?
Rickie McKinnie: We just want to be a vessel to be used. We started out a long time ago. We had no idea that we would be where we are today, but we put ourselves in the way. And we want to continue to put ourselves in the way and continue to be used.
http://www.myspace.com/blindboysofalabama
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Edited by Dorothy Berry
Photography by Shannon Brinkman
Tags: Blind Boys of Alabama, Christianity, Gospel, Interview, music, RockOm, RockOm.net, spirituality
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