The Blind Boys of Alabama started singing together way, way back in 1938. A mere 64 years later, the gospel group recorded this phenomenal set for Real World, their second release for the label. Showing no sign of coming off the gas in their autumn years, Higher Ground is a gutsy, impassioned offering, shot through with gospel fervour and soulful intensity. The boys are aided in their crusade by Robert Randolph?s blowtorch pedal steel guitar (along with the artistry of his Family Band), while additional flavour is provided by that immaculate troubadour Ben Harper.

For over 60 years, the Blind Boys of Alabama have traversed "higher ground" together. Since forming their group at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939, they have kept alive the spirit and energy of pure soul gospel music. Founding members Clarence Fountain, Jimmy Carter and George Scott - along with more recent arrivals Joey Williams, Ricky McKinnie and Bobby Butler - have drawn upon gospel's river-deep reflections on life's trials, and mastered its haunting falsettos and vibrant, muscular harmonies. And at ages when most men have retired from life's spotlight, they continue to command the music's heart-pounding vigor as meditation erupts into foot-stomping, rollicking celebration.

Remarkably, the Blind Boys not only represent the highest standard of a charismatic American musical tradition - they also extend that tradition. Gospel has always nourished blues, rhythm-and-blues and rock'n'roll, so it seems only natural for the Blind Boys to have found a calling in transforming popular song back into consecrated writ.

That's been a favored aspect of the group's albums and concerts in recent years. Since first reaching toward a wider audience with their roles in the 1983 production of "The Gospel at Colonnus," (Bob Telson and Lee Breuer's Obie Award-winning Off-Broadway and Broadway smash), the singers have repeatedly reinvented material associated wit.......
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