29
Jun
2004
Interviewing Clarence Fountain is a bit like asking a question of a Magic 8 Ball. The answers are short, glib, and often contradictory.
Fountain, the leader and one of the original members of the Blind Boys of Alabama (which was formed in 1939), is feisty, and his responses don't do justice to his music.
He talks about the Good Lord, and how the group is only interested in praising God, and then talks about the spoils of the group's fame. He rags on producers, and then says that so long as the Blind Boys keep winning Grammys, the producers are cool with him. He says that everything the Blind Boys do turns to gold, but it's not any good if it doesn't win a Grammy.
The Blind Boys are one of pop culture's most amazing crossover stories, and their music is frequently transcendent. The group was originally formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind. Fountain left in 1969 and re-joined it in 1980. Three of the Blind Boys are actually blind, including Fountain.
Fountain has the good fortune of being in a gospel ensemble - which still includes founding-member singers Jimmy Carter and George Scott, as well as a handful of instrumentalists - that in recent years has worked with the likes of Ben Harper, Tom Waits, George Clinton, and Chrissie Hynde. It is, without a doubt, the hippest praise group in all the world.
The group performs a lot of traditional material alongside the tunes of Harper, Waits, and even Jagger & Richards. On Spirit of the Century, the Blind Boys do "Amazing Grace" through the tune of "House of the Rising Son," and although that arrangement isn't new, it's simply stunning with the group's harmonies. The combination of the Blind Boys' well-seasoned voices creates some gorgeously uplifting music, but with rough edges that lend it authenticity.
Harper produced the group's new album, There Will Be a Light (due in August), and recently called the Blind Boys "one of the musical wonders of the world. They're like Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon."
It's all God's will, Fountain said. "It ain't nothing but the goodness of the Lord," he said in an interview last week.
The Blind Boys had a major breakthrough in 2001 with their Real World debut Spirit of the Century, which seemed designed to create crossover success with three Waits tunes and Harper's "Give a Man a Home" next to traditional gospel songs. It won the group its first Grammy.
Higher Ground, from 2002, included even more contemporary tracks, including Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground," and netted the Blind Boys another Grammy. So did the 2003 Christmas album Go Tell It on the Mountain, featuring a wide variety of guest vocalists.
Those Grammys have "been putting us on the top," Fountain said, and getting the group $15,000 a show. That's led to a curious attitude: "If it don't win a Grammy, it ain't no good," Fountain said.
That seems disingenuous, as Fountain later noted: "Whatever you do, it'll come out good."
Fountain seems comfortable with these contradictions. On the group's success, Fountain said he's thankful for his "nice house, nice car. The Lord's been good to me." Yet a minute later he was talking about his mortality: "My future looks kind of dark," he said. He's getting old - he's now 74 - and there's not much left to do but "wait on the salvation, wait on the Lord."
The Blind Boys don't really choose their own material; their producers come to them with it, and the track listing comes together through attrition. "We don't really pick the tunes," Fountain said. "If we don't like it, we don't sing it." He stressed that the group focuses on lyrics: "We're just going to sing about the Lord."
Fountain said the Blind Boys will return to the studio this fall for another new album. "Good stuff," he said. "It'll be all right." But he wouldn't talk about what the group plans for the album beyond a version of "What a Wonderful World."
He talks about the Good Lord, and how the group is only interested in praising God, and then talks about the spoils of the group's fame. He rags on producers, and then says that so long as the Blind Boys keep winning Grammys, the producers are cool with him. He says that everything the Blind Boys do turns to gold, but it's not any good if it doesn't win a Grammy.
The Blind Boys are one of pop culture's most amazing crossover stories, and their music is frequently transcendent. The group was originally formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind. Fountain left in 1969 and re-joined it in 1980. Three of the Blind Boys are actually blind, including Fountain.
Fountain has the good fortune of being in a gospel ensemble - which still includes founding-member singers Jimmy Carter and George Scott, as well as a handful of instrumentalists - that in recent years has worked with the likes of Ben Harper, Tom Waits, George Clinton, and Chrissie Hynde. It is, without a doubt, the hippest praise group in all the world.
The group performs a lot of traditional material alongside the tunes of Harper, Waits, and even Jagger & Richards. On Spirit of the Century, the Blind Boys do "Amazing Grace" through the tune of "House of the Rising Son," and although that arrangement isn't new, it's simply stunning with the group's harmonies. The combination of the Blind Boys' well-seasoned voices creates some gorgeously uplifting music, but with rough edges that lend it authenticity.
Harper produced the group's new album, There Will Be a Light (due in August), and recently called the Blind Boys "one of the musical wonders of the world. They're like Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon."
It's all God's will, Fountain said. "It ain't nothing but the goodness of the Lord," he said in an interview last week.
The Blind Boys had a major breakthrough in 2001 with their Real World debut Spirit of the Century, which seemed designed to create crossover success with three Waits tunes and Harper's "Give a Man a Home" next to traditional gospel songs. It won the group its first Grammy.
Higher Ground, from 2002, included even more contemporary tracks, including Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground," and netted the Blind Boys another Grammy. So did the 2003 Christmas album Go Tell It on the Mountain, featuring a wide variety of guest vocalists.
Those Grammys have "been putting us on the top," Fountain said, and getting the group $15,000 a show. That's led to a curious attitude: "If it don't win a Grammy, it ain't no good," Fountain said.
That seems disingenuous, as Fountain later noted: "Whatever you do, it'll come out good."
Fountain seems comfortable with these contradictions. On the group's success, Fountain said he's thankful for his "nice house, nice car. The Lord's been good to me." Yet a minute later he was talking about his mortality: "My future looks kind of dark," he said. He's getting old - he's now 74 - and there's not much left to do but "wait on the salvation, wait on the Lord."
The Blind Boys don't really choose their own material; their producers come to them with it, and the track listing comes together through attrition. "We don't really pick the tunes," Fountain said. "If we don't like it, we don't sing it." He stressed that the group focuses on lyrics: "We're just going to sing about the Lord."
Fountain said the Blind Boys will return to the studio this fall for another new album. "Good stuff," he said. "It'll be all right." But he wouldn't talk about what the group plans for the album beyond a version of "What a Wonderful World."
