The Blind Boys of Alabama

Vicar St, Dublin

Anyone who makes it past the five-album mark nowadays gets a pat on the back for their alleged ‘longevity’. Clarence Fountain and his fellow Blind Boys from Sweet Home Alabama have been going down this inspirational gospel road since 1939, which pretty much re-defines the currency of the word perseverance in contemporary music.

While soul and gospel have been manipulated into countless pop and r n’ b mutations, and even the likes of Blur and Spiritualized hire the London Community Gospel choir, the Blind Boys re-appropriate modern day standards via their awesome Southern rural harmonies.

In the process of becoming increasingly regular visitors to these shores, the Blind Boys haven’t lost an ounce of their visceral live-groove. If anything, even more history and passion resonates off their vocal arrangements. Clarence introduces every number with a captivating warmth and enthusiasm that hasn’t diminished with age, carefully and humorlessly giving the context of each performance and from what album its lifted from.

“Bear with me, because there are about 400 songs in my head,” he politely apologizes, and who the hell are we to disagree? In other hands, ‘Danny Boy’ would be the ultimate crowd-pleasing choice, an over-obvious number to patronise the ever-singing Paddies with. Hence, transforming it into a ceaseless epic of gospel euphoria isn’t the work of any old cheese meister.

These Boyos feel the love, warmth, and astonishment radiating off this crowd and give it back a thousand fold. Clarence senses that we want it, so he’s off again to reach for some sonic nirvana never heard before in what we merely know as a bog standard traditional song. They reward the fervent applause with ‘The Last Time’, and once again they leave us reeling. Until the next time.