Bman's Blues Report

I just received the newest release, Raise Your Hands , from former Blind Boys of Alabama guitarist, Sam Butler , and it's exceptional! Opening with spiritual, blues rocker, Heaven's Wall , penned by Bruce Springsteen and it's off the hook. With it's driving guitar mantra, Butler's bluesy vocals and wild pedal steel work by Roosevelt Collier, this is a great opener. Rocker, The Lord has a driving beat compliments of Marco Giovino on drums. Butler shows his chops on this track with an almost Foghat feel! Johnny Cash's Lead Me Father has a great drum rhythm compliments of Giovino and this track is fat. With it's spiritual melody but rock like vamp, and soaring guitar soloing, this track is cool! Eric Clapton's Presence Of The Lord has a really nice redo. I think most everyone on the planet has heard this track and this is such a soulful makeover, with subtle but tasty guitar work and then meaty guitar frenzy, it is almost unrecognizable. Absolutely ...

Blind Boys of Alabama Guitarist Sam Butler Exults His Audience to Raise Your Hands! On First Solo CD, Due October 16 on Severn Records Americana Compilation of Bluesy Spirituals Penned by Secular Artists Shines the Spotlight on His Many Talents ANNAPOLIS, MD – Severn Records announces an October 16 release date for Raise Your Hands! , the first solo recording from Blind Boys of Alabama guitarist Sam Butler. Produced by Brian Brinkerhoff (Guitar Shorty, Jazz Soul 7), the even-dozen tracks on Raise Your Hands! s howcase the splendid talents of Butler, whose guitar work has been a staple of The Blind Boys of Alabama for over 40 years. Sam Butler’s solo debut puts his own spin on an Americana compilation of bluesy spirituals written by some of the most important and compelling artists and songwriters of the last fifty years of rock and roll (Bruce Springsteen, U2, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, etc.), with some righteous results. Butler’s resu...

ONE Entertainment System Unlimited presents Clarence Fountain, of the Blind Boys of Alabama, featuring Sam Butler, Jr. The NEW CD, "Stepping Up And Stepping Out", is set for a release date of August 25th in 2009. Produced by Jim Tullio (Mavis Staples, Los Lonely Boys), Sam Butler, Jr., and Clarence Fountain, this new album features special guest, Donald Fagan of Steely Dan. .... As a founding member of the colossal group, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Clarence Fountain's smooth blues-based Gospel songs share the sheen of Bobby Bland and the love-man style of Marvin Gaye. His passionate versions of Gospel standards have an easy tempo and a Memphis groove. Formed some six and a half decades ago, the Blind Boys of Alabama are the iron men of the music industry. They predate Elvis, Little Richard, and Al Green yet even in their seventies, are still at the top of the Gospel charts. .... In recent years, the Blind Boys have proven themselves masters of bringing out the most sp...

Clarence Fountain was one of the founding members of the Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama, a group that was formed when he was a 12-year-old student at the Talladega Institute for the Deaf and Blind in Alabama. The group, which drew all of its members from the school, was originally known as the Happy Land Jubilee Singers. They made their first recordings in 1948 after adopting their permanent name and had a recording career that extended over a more than 60-year span. Fountain broke with the group in 1969 to pursue a solo career and recorded two albums with Jewel, then rejoined the group in 1980. In 1983 the group performed as the chorus in the Obie-winning adaptation of a Sophocles play, The Gospel at Colonus, and continued to revive their roles in that play several times in the following years. Fountain continued to record for Jewel in the '90s, as well as issuing compilations of his work on a variety of labels. Working with fellow Blind Boys' alumnus Sam Butler (Fount...