Spirit of the century Our own story

Review by Booklist Review

Founded in 1939 by teenage students in an Alabama school for the blind, the Blind Boys of Alabama have enjoyed an astonishing career marked by an unwavering work ethic, inspired collaboration, and mesmerizing live performances. They cut their teeth in the 1940s and '50s, rising to prominence on the "gospel highway," a touring circuit of churches, community centers, and school auditoriums. After a slump in the 1970s, the vocal group experienced an unrivaled comeback. They performed on Broadway, collectively playing the part of Oedipus in The Gospel at Colonus, an African American musical adaptation of Sophocles' tragedy. They worked with Lou Reed on an Edgar Allan Poe-themed album, jammed onstage with Prince, and toured with Robert Plant. This year they were awarded their sixth Grammy. Lauterbach is a sensitive coauthor. As Blind Boys members and people in their closest circle narrate the group's long, complex story, Lauterbach contributes astute commentary and a generous listening guide for readers who finish the book eager to explore the Blind Boys' musical legacy. A riveting and enriching read.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Long-running gospel music group the Blind Boys of Alabama team up with cultural historian Lauterbach (Bluff City) for a colorful chronicle of their journey from "the early days of Black gospel indies" to the present. Meeting at an Alabama vocational school for Black Deaf and blind children, the group, including original members Jimmy Carter, Johnny Fields, Clarence Fountain, J.T. Hutton, George Scott, Olice Thomas, and Velma Traylor (the roster would go on to shift throughout the group's tenure), formed in 1939 as the Happy Land Jubilee Singers and began performing on the Black "gospel highway" that stretched from New York City to the Deep South in 1948. After lineup changes in the 1960s and '70s, the musicians were cast in The Gospel at Colonus, a musical adaptation of Sophocles's Oedipus at Colonus, in 1983; sang the theme song for the first season of The Wire; and went on to win five Grammy Awards. Unvarnished details of Fountain's philandering and close brushes with the law add interest, but readers will be most fascinated by the vulnerable and often-moving recollections of how the bandmates' "so-called handicap" shaped their career. While they had to be on guard to avoid being fleeced by shady concert promoters and management, their lack of sight also afforded them a unique advantage, in that "the Blind Boys don't see their audience, they have to feel them." Gospel fans will have a hard time putting down this crowd-pleaser. (Mar.)Correction: An earlier version of this review incorrectly stated that the group disbanded in 1967.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A history of a group of visually impaired Black gospel musicians who achieved unprecedented fame. In the 1930s, the Alabama School for the Negro Deaf and Blind took in visually impaired boys from all over the state of Alabama and taught them "commercial broom and mop manufacturing and music." The school's conditions were abysmal: Students routinely went hungry, and the abusive staff and "blood feud" between blind and deaf pupils often exposed attendees to violence. The one bright spot in the school was the music--in particular, one group that students formed themselves. In the 1940s, a partially sighted student named Velma Traylor got his friends J.T. Hutton, Olice Thomas, George Scott, Clarence Fountain, and Johnny Fields to form a group that sang four-part quartet harmonies that they arranged themselves. Originally called the Happy Land Jubilee Singers, these boys would soon become the famous gospel quartet group known as the Blind Boys of Alabama. Although Traylor was shot and killed tragically--and mysteriously--at the age of 23, the Blind Boys continued performing for decades, winning multiple Grammy Awards, recording the theme song for The Wire, performing on David Letterman, sharing the stage with Prince, and singing for President Barack Obama. At its best, this book, co-written by music journalist Lauterbach, author of Beale Street Dynasty and The Chitlin' Circuit, provides an intimate look at the creative, personal, and professional lives of visually impaired Black musicians over a decades-long career. However, the narrative's lightning-fast pace makes it difficult to keep track of the huge variety of characters in the Blind Boys' orbit, and the incredibly detailed timeline is difficult to follow. Consequently, the book feels more like a list of people and events than a story. A thorough but frantically paced history of the Blind Boys of Alabama. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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