Spirit of the Century: Our Own Story

by The Blind Boys of Alabama, Preston Lauterbach (With)

Overview

An insider history of the Blind Boys of Alabama, the longest running group in American music, and the untold story of their world, written with band members and key musical colleagues.

The Blind Boys of Alabama are the quintessential Gospel vocal group, and the longest-running musical institution in America. Their story intersects with pivotal moments and issues in American history and is an ideal prism through which to trace music, culture, history, and race in America. Spirit of the Century invites readers to follow along the Blind Boys’ eight-decade journey together from a segregated trade school, through the rough and tumble indie record game and grinding tour schedule of the golden age of gospel, to starring in an iconic Broadway musical, performing at the White House for three presidents twice, collaborating with Tom Petty, Lou Reed, and Ben Harper, among others, singing the theme song for “The Wire,” and winning five Grammys.  More than just a story of the Blind Boys' illustrious career, Spirit of the Century also sheds new light on the larger world of African American gospel music, its origins, and the colorful characters at its center. 

Though there have been several iterations of the group over the decades, Spirit of the Century rounds up all surviving members of the group as contributors to the telling of their own story, and a result, the book offers a unique and intimate perspective on the group's enduring success. Current drummer and road manager Rickie McKinney has been with the group throughout its renaissance, while guitarist Joey Williams, the group’s sighted member, has been the eyes of the Blind Boys since 1992. Octogenarian Jimmy Lee Carter has a fascinating history, as a fellow student of the original but deceased Blind Boys Clarence Fountain, George Scott, Olice Thomas, Johnny Fields, J.T. Hutton, and Velma Traylor at the Talladega school. Carter is one of a few performers who have been in both the Blind Boys of Alabama and Mississippi. He fronts the Alabama group today as a classic quartet leader and fiery preacher. Along with extensive interviews of Fountain, these legendary musicians provide this book with the voice, firsthand perspective, and authenticity that bring their story the same inspirational power that you hear in their songs.

Thought-provoking, heartfelt, and deeply inspiring, Spirit of the Century is a fascinating and one-of-a-kind read that you won't be able to put down.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306828218
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	03/19/2024
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	125,955
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

The Blind Boys of Alabama are the longest running group in American music and have been performing gospel music since 1939. In addition to being inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, they have won numerous honors for the music, including five Grammy Awards, and were presented with the coveted Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. This is their first book.

Preston Lauterbach (coauthor) is the author/co-author of numerous books, including Brother Robert, Bluff City, Beale Street Dynasty, and The Chitlin'Circuit. He lives near Charlottesville, Virginia.

Editorial Reviews

02/05/2024

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.

Publishers Weekly

For more than seventy-five years since my Gospel-singing, schoolteacher mother introduced me to the Five Blind Boys from Alabama, we have been graced with their magnificent music, their thundering, harmonic power that moves soul and spirit. They’ve stood the test of time and they’re still striking hot iron with every note. Get on board with Spirit of the Century—people get ready, this is the train that’s comin’!”—Taj Mahal











“This is a story you WANT to know. If you know anything about The Blind Boys of Alabama—spirit, heart, and determination go into this fabulous blend of voices and music.  And you will understand the struggle, not just theirs but all of ours.”—Whoopi Goldberg











“This is an extraordinary story of an extraordinary group—a wonderful account of how these young men conquered their difficulties to become one of the most legendary and inspirational groups of our time.”—Peter Gabriel

“Gospel fans will have a hard time putting down this crowd-pleaser.”—Publisher's Weekly

“The Blind Boys of Alabama have enjoyed an astonishing career marked by an unwavering work ethic, inspired collaboration, and mesmerizing live performances… A riveting and excting read.”—Booklist

“A riveting celebration of the Blind Boys of Alabama’s glorious and often unpredictable musical journey.”—Arts Fuse

“Every page of Spirit of the Century teems with stories of the group’s challenges and triumphs.”—No Depression

From the Publisher

2024-01-25
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.

Kirkus Reviews