SPRINGFIELD — The joyous music of the season will ring out at the Hope Center for the Arts on Saturday when the Blind Boys of Alabama return to Springfield after a six-year absence as part of their 2025 Christmas Tour.
Showtime is 7 p.m.
The Blind Boys Christmas Show mixes holiday standards with selections from their Grammy-winning holiday classic album, “Go Tell It On The Mountain” and the spirited “Talkin’ Christmas” album.
From moving renditions of “Silent Night” to foot-stomping arrangements, the Blind Boys’ celebrated Christmas program is a joyful blend of traditional holiday classics and soul-infused gospel songs, delivered with the group’s trademark vocal power and heartfelt conviction.
But it is not all Christmas.
“You are going to hear some of the best Blind Boys music alongside popular Christmas songs and carols sung in our own style,” said Eric “Ricky” McKinnie, 72, who joined the Blind Boys of Alabama in 1989.
“I was playing, doing my own thing with the Gospel Keynotes when Clarene called me up. The Blind Boys were going to Australia and the needed another person. And that was how I became a member of the group,” said McKinnie, who noted he knew about the Blind Boys of Alabama since he was four years old.
It was his mother, Sarah McKinnie Shivers, whose influence led him on a path to gospel music.
“My mother was a gospel singer and sang with Gene Martin. Music in some form was always in our house and when going to church and singing in the choir. When I was singing with the Atlanta Community Choir, the drummer quit. People in the choir didn’t know that I played drums and I told them I could do that. And it was that night that I came to the attention of the Soul Searchers who I joined and that is how my career started,” McKinnie said.
McKinnie lost his sight in 1975 at the age of 23 while with the Gospel Keynotes of Texas. The gospel singer had scar tissue from surgery for glaucoma, and his vision was often dim, but he woke up one morning with his sight completely gone. He originally didn’t believe it when his doctor told him that he had lost his sight.
“I have what is called phantom sight, when you have seen for so long that your mind can project images. For a long time, I didn’t accept that I couldn’t see because my mind was projecting these images. For example, when I would wash my hands and face, I could actually see my hands,” he said.
McKinnie attributes the popularity of the Blind Boys of Alabama to the honesty of their music.
“We sing straight from heart and what is from the heart reaches the heart. And we sing straight from the soul and people can feel the music is real,” he said.
The Blind Boys of Alabama are recognized worldwide as living legends of gospel music. Celebrated by The National Endowment for the Arts and The Recording Academy with Lifetime Achievement Awards, inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and winners of six Grammy Awards, they have attained the highest levels of achievement in a career that spans over 70 years. The Blind Boys are known for crossing multiple musical boundaries with their interpretations of everything from traditional gospel favorites to contemporary spiritual material by songwriters such as Eric Clapton, Prince, and Tom Waits. They have appeared on recordings with many artists, including Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Aaron Neville, Susan Tedeschi, Ben Harper, Patty Griffin, and Taj Mahal.
Tickets range from $45 to $65 in advance and are available online at hopecenterforthearts.org.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.masslive.com ’
