The Blind Boys of Alabama, also billed as The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama, is an American gospel group. The group was founded in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama, and has featured a changing roster of musicians over its history, the majority of whom are or were vision impaired.
The Blind Boys found mainstream success following their appearance in the 1983 Obie Award-winning musical The Gospel at Colonus. The Blind Boys have won five Grammy Awards in addition to being presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. The group was also invited to the White House during the Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama administrations.
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Links to Peel[]
You'll Never Walk Alone
The Five Blind Boys Of Alabama were one of the gospel groups Peel started to feature in his shows from the mid-1970s. In 1976, in the third programme of the Where It's At series, he played their "stunning performance" of 'Way Down In The Hole' as representative of the genre, praising the contribution of lead singer Clarence Fountain, who he also subsequently also played as a solo artist.
In the following decades, tracks by the Blind Boys continued to turn up occasionally on Peel show playlists. At the start of the new century, the DJ gave airtime to the group's version of Liverpool anthem You'll Never Walk Alone.
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- None
Sessions[]
- None
Other Shows Played[]
- 1970s
- 09 October 1973: Old Time Religion
- 08 November 1973: Precious Lord
- Where It's At (1976) : Way Down In The Hole
- 1980s
- 23 March 1988: Goodbye Mother (v/a album - To Mother) Specialty
- 1990s
- 09 June 1991: You Got To Move (album - A Specialty Gospel Toofa)
- 14 June 1991 (BFBS): You Got To Move (CD - The Original Five Blind Boys Of Alabama) Ace
- 10 April 1992: Take My Hand Precious Lord
- 16 December 1997: Old Time Religion (album - True Convictions) Exodus
- 07 April 1998: Mother Is On The Train (LP-Revival Time)' (Realm)
- 2000s
- 24 July 2003 (Radio Eins): You'll Never Walk Alone (appears in the track listing but was not played on the show)
- 25 July 2003 (BBC World Service): You'll Never Walk Alone
- Clarence Fountain
- 21 February 2002: The Lord Will Make A Way, Yes He Will
External Links[]