December 23, 2002
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu
The irresistible, inspirational Blind Boys of Alabama and Charlie Musselwhite to perform at UCSB Campbell Hall
Summary Facts:
- The Blind Boys of Alabama and Charlie Musselwhite
- An evening of compelling gospel and blues
- The Blind Boys are Grammy Award winners and recent inductees in to the Gospel Hall of Fame
- Acclaimed harmonica player Musselwhite has won several W.C. Handy (Blues Foundation) Awards
- Thursday, February 6 / 8 pm
- UCSB Campbell Hall
- General: $35 and $30, UCSB students: $19 and $16
- Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535
The Blind Boys of Alabama, recently named inductees to the Gospel Hall of Fame, will be joined by ace blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite in a stirring performance on Thursday, February 6 at 8 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall. Since forming their group at the Talladega Institute for the Blind in 1939, the Blind Boys have kept alive the spirit and energy of pure soul gospel music. Noted for their rousing live concerts, the group is riding a wave of increased interest including a Grammy Award for their CD Spirit of the Century, a spot opening for Peter Gabriel on his recent U.S. arena tour and television appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and 60 Minutes II. Charlie Musselwhite, the “harmonica master,” as The New York Times calls him, was part of the Blind Boys’ band on Spirit of the Century and is one of America’s most beloved and talented blues musicians. This performance is sure to mix the sacred and the secular in a divine combination.
Founding Blind Boys 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. Veterans of over fifty recordings and countless live performances, the Blind Boys were the musical heart of the crowd-pleasing, Obie Award-winning musical The Gospel at Colonus in the late 1980s. Signing to Peter Gabriel’s Real World label in 2000, the band recorded a series of traditional gospel numbers and spiritual-leaning rock songs (by artists such as Tom Waits and Richards/Jagger) for Spirit of the Century, which won the 2001 Grammy Award for best traditional soul gospel album. In a review of the group’s latest CD, Higher Ground, the Washington Post wrote, “Gospel music, according to the Blind Boys of Alabama, isn’t a joyful noise, it’s a joyfully inclusive noise. [The group has] become so adept at blending traditional forms of spiritual expression with familiar refrains of pop and soul that the result is almost guaranteed to raise the pulse of believers and agnostics alike.”
Charlie Musselwhite has been called “one of the greatest living exponents of blues harmonica” by Variety. Musselwhite’s music attests to his wide-ranging travels: he was born in Mississippi, the home of the delta blues; he grew up in soulful Memphis; he cut his musical teeth in the land of urban blues Chicago; he has settled down in the ever-eclectic San Francisco. Having recorded over fifteen albums for classic blues labels like Vanguard, Arhoolie and Alligator, he’s consistently praised for his dazzling harmonica playing.
In an interview Musselwhite honored the Blind Boys, claiming, “I just love those guys. Whenever I listen to them I get goosebumps. Their singing is always great. They have so much soul and feeling. People need this food for the heart. They’ll go off on a tangent and listen to something manufactured, but they always come back to gospel and blues.”
On the evening of the performance concertgoers may enhance their experience by attending a tasty Southern buffet served by the UCSB Faculty Club at 6 pm. The dinner is $18 per person; reservations must be made by January 31 by calling 805-893-3096.
The Blind Boys of Alabama and Charlie Musselwhite are presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by KCSB 91.9 FM and Borders. Tickets are $35 and $30 for the general public and $19 and $16 for UCSB students.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.