Echoes of the South

80年以上のキャリアを誇るゴスペル界のリヴィング・レジェンド"BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA"が最新アルバムをリリース!!
5回のグラミー受賞など、80年以上(!)という長いキャリアでゴスペル界のレジェンド的存在であるBLIND BOYS OF ALABAMAが最新アルバムをリリース。伝統的なゴスペルソングとヴィンテージソウルを組み合わせた今作は1944年にグループが初めてプロとして演奏したバーミンガムのラジオ番組からその名前を取っている。このアルバムを制作後、中心人物である91歳のJIMMY CARTERが引退、PAUL BEASLEYとBENJAMIN MOORE, JRの2人のメンバーが他界した。しかし今後もグループは活動を続けていくとのこと。

「ブラインド・ボーイズの精神は、何ができないかではなく、何ができるかということなんだ。その精神に忠実であり続ける限り、心に響く歌を歌い続ける限り、このグループは永遠に生き続けるだろう」― RICKY MCKINNIE

Following the death of Clarence Fountain in 2018, the Blind Boys of Alabama released Work to Do with singer/songwriter Marc Cohn in 2019. After resuming an intense post-pandemic touring schedule in 2021, they returned to the recording studio in 2022 with producers Charles Driebe, Matt Ross-Spang, and Ben Tanner, as well as a crack quartet of studio aces who re-create the feel of 40s-era live gospel. Echoes of the South is joyous and bittersweet. Inspired by their debut appearance on WGSN radio in Alabama, this music honors the entire aesthetic of the live radio programs that made them. The bittersweet part is the result of the deaths of veteran members Ben Moore and Paul Beasley after recording the album, which is dedicated to them. 91-year-old founder/leader Jimmy Carter, the last remaining original member, focuses on tradition here: This is the music of gospel quartets to be sure, but also the music of the ongoing Civil Rights struggles of both the Blind Boys early career and the 21st century. Opener "Send It on Down" has been covered by everyone from Willie Neal Johnson & Gospel Keynotes to the Gaither Vocal Band (the stomping, joyous take here leaves the milquetoast latter version in the dust). "Work Until My Days Are Done" (closely associated with Albertina Walker and Dedicated Men of Zion) is rowdy with rollicking handclaps, choral shouts, tambourines, and a hard-swinging instrumental quartet. Its a gospel house rocker. A deep soul version of Homer Banks classic "Friendship" -- closely associated with Pops Staples -- is at once stirring and welcoming in its conviction. The fiery testimony in "You Cant Hurry God," likely written by Dorothy Love Coates, is a wooly paean to the spiritual values of faith and patience with a swaggering piano that ultimately inspired the Motown production and songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland to compose "You Cant Hurry Love" for the Supremes. They answer it with "Jesus You Been Good to Me," a deep soul-gospel jam with the best vocal acrobatics on the record thanks to Beasleys soaring, resonant falsetto -- it recalls Curtis Mayfield during his time with the Impressions. Speaking of Mayfield, the Blind Boys deliver a tender, contemporary reinvention of his "Keep on Pushin" in bluesy waltz time with a hip B-3 in interplay with the vocals. "Jesus You’ve Been Good to Me" evokes an affinity for the all-loving deity with a loose, grooving arrangement. "Nothing But Love," composed by Fountain, offers testimony to the power of unwavering belief. A gritty, gravelly take on songwriter/producer Ron Millers Stevie Wonder anti-war, anti-gun, pro-Civil Rights vehicle "Heaven Help Us All" is showcased as a rocking, stomping, gospel benediction and closes the record. Ultimately, it offers an inspiring lyric focus that exhorts us to forget cheap grace and overly simplistic words as a means to salvation. It begs us to live in this wounded, bleeding world with hope amid darkness, difficulty, and tragedy. If this rootsy, raw album is the groups last, they can be very proud: Its one for the ages. ~ Thom Jurek