Down In New Orleans (CD)

• Category:  Music  »  Christian/Gospel  »  Classic Gospel
• Format: CD
• Release Date: January 29, 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Time/Life Music
• UPC: 610583224726
• WAPI (Tower ID): 111682133
• Average Customer Review:    (1 customer review)
• Tower.com Sales Rank: #5031 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #14451 in Christian/Gospel (See Top 100 Christian/Gospel Bestsellers)
• #2 in Classic Gospel (See Top 100 Classic Gospel Bestsellers)

•  [Blind Boys Of Alabama - Official Site this link opens a new window] 
  
•  [Blind Boys Of Alabama - Myspace this link opens a new window] 
  
•  [Blind Boys Of Alabama - Wikipedia Entry this link opens a new window] 
  

Rolling Stone (p.82) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] superweapon of roots-music uplift: Full-throated versions of standards such as 'I'll Fly Away' and 'Down by the Riverside' will raise goose bumps..."
Uncut (p.83) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Unmistakably spirited renditions of standards 'How I Got Over' and 'Down By The Riverside' provide timely comments on post Iraq/Hurricane Katrina America."
JazzTimes (p.76) - "[T]he Blind Boys' personal connection to an older strain of gospel singing gives their performances an imposing weight..."
Dirty Linen (p.51) - "[T]he lead singers are consistently spirited..."
Dirty Linen (p.49) - "The group eschews the obvious...instead presenting the classic 'Down By The Riverside' with energy and style, fueled by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band..."
No Depression (p.69) - "[O]ne of the more soul-lifting efforts to be recorded in the Crescent City in the post-Katrina era."
Q (Magazine) (p.104) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his meld of styles makes for an album of heavy-duty testifyin' to chase demons from your soul."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.105) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[Made] with typical gusto, throwing themselves into impassioned performances of 'You Got To Move', 'Uncloudy Day' and more....Honest, soulful music."
Harp (magazine) (p.97) - "[T]hey're a determinedly adaptable bunch....[They] never lose track of the Boy's gospel roots, even as they cover new ground."

Blind Boys Of Alabama: Caleb Butler, Eric McKinnie, Jimmy Carter, Ben Moore, Billy Bowers, Tracy Pierce, Joey Williams (vocals).

Additional personnel include: Allen Toussaint (piano); Hot 8 Brass Band, Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Recording information: Piety Recording Studios, New Orleans, Louisiana.

While they may not hail from the Crescent City, the Blind Boys of Alabama obviously have a strong connection to its musical traditions, a fact made unmistakably clear on DOWN IN NEW ORLEANS. With the able assistance of such estimable local heroes as Allen Toussaint and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the long-lived (they've been recording since the 1940s!) gospel icons deliver a straight-from-the-heart tribute to the spirit of New Orleans, giving their arrangements of traditional spiritual tunes a Big Easy tweak. The country blues song "You Got to Move," for instance, is transformed into a banjo-and-tuba Dixieland offering, and the gospel classic "Uncloudy Day" becomes a brass-band rave-up. Even the less overt stylistic adaptations bear the distinctive bump of New Orleans grooves, settling in seamlessly under the Blind Boys' rich, soulful voices.

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