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Event
Lobby Call: A Listening Lunch with The Blind Boys of Alabama and Professor Mark Anthony Neal
Join us for a Listening Lunch and learn what albums have influenced and inspired the legendary group that defined the sound of the American south.
RSVP with a free ticket to attend, or purchase a picnic lunch to be picked up when you arrive.
About The Blind Boys of Alabama
Hailed as "gospel titans" by Rolling Stone, The Blind Boys of Alabama first rose to fame in the segregated south with their thrilling vocal harmonies and roof-raising live show. They released their debut single, "I Can See Everybodys Mother But Mine," on the iconic Veejay label in 1948, launching a 70-year recording career that would see them rack up five GRAMMY Awards (plus one for Lifetime Achievement), enter the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, collaborate with everyone from Mavis Staples and Stevie Wonder to Prince and Lou Reed, and perform on the world's most prestigious stages.
It would be difficult to overstate the Blind Boys' influence on their contemporaries and the generations that came after. The New York Times said that they "came to epitomize what is known as jubilee singing, a livelier breed of gospel music," adding that "they made it zestier still by adding jazz and blues idioms and turning up the volume, creating a soundlike the rock 'n' roll that grew out of it." TIME Magazine raved that "they're always hunting for - and finding - the perfect note or harmony that lifts an old tune into the sublime," while The Washington Post praised their "soul-stirring harmonies" and "range of cross-genre collaborations," and The New Yorker simply called them "legendary."
"When the Blind Boys started out, we weren't even thinking about all these accolades and all that stuff," founding member Jimmy Carter told NPR. "We just wanted to get out and sing gospel and tell the world about gospel music." Mission accomplished!
Mark Anthony Neal is Professor of African & African American Studies and the founding director of the Center for Arts, Digital Culture and Entrepreneurship (CADCE) at Duke University where he offers courses on Black Masculinity, Popular Culture, and Digital Humanities, including signature courses on Michael Jackson & the Black Performance Tradition, and The History of Hip-Hop, which he co-teaches with Grammy Award Winning producer 9th Wonder (Patrick Douthit).
He is the author of several books including What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture (1999), Soul Babies: Black Popular Culture and the Post-Soul Aesthetic (2002) and Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities (2013). The 10th Anniversary edition of Neals New Black Man was published in February of 2015 by Routledge. Neal is co-editor of That's the Joint: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader (Routledge), now in its second edition. Additionally Neal host of the
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LocationThe Roof at The Durham Hotel (View)
315 E Chapel Hill St
Durham, NC 27701
United States
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| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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