Blind Boys of Alabama with special guest Charlie Musselwhite

Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 8 p.m.

Collins Center for the Arts

The Blind Boys of Alabama are recognized worldwide as living legends of gospel music. Celebrated by The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) with Lifetime Achievement Awards, inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and winners of five Grammy® Awards, they have attained the highest levels of achievement in a career that spans over 70 years.The Blind Boys are known for crossing multiple musical boundaries with their remarkable interpretations of everything from traditional gospel favorites to contemporary spiritual material by songwriters such as Eric Clapton, Prince and Tom Waits. They have appeared on recordings with many artists, including Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Aaron Neville, Susan Tedeschi, Ben Harper, Patty Griffin and Taj Mahal. The Blind Boys of Alabama have also appeared on The Tonight Show, Late Night, The Grammy® Awards, 60 Minutes, The Colbert Report? and many other television shows.

Charlie Musselwhite’s journey through the blues was from his birth in Mississippi to Memphis, Chicago and California. Arriving in Chicago in the early sixties, he was just in time for the epochal blues revival. In 1966 at the age of 22 he recorded the landmark Stand Back! to rave reviews. A precipitous relocation to San Francisco in 1967, where his album was being played on underground radio, found him welcomed into the counterculture scene around the Fillmore West as an authentic purveyor of the real deal blues.

PRE-PERFORMANCE LECTURE – 7 p.m.

Join us for a pre-performance lecture given by UMaine jazz professor Scott Cleveland, presented with the support of the Clement and Linda McGillicuddy Humanities Center. This event will take place in the Bodwell Lounge on the 3rd floor of the CCA. Scott is a lifelong composer/singer/pianist/music educator/church musician. He holds a B.M. in Music Education from Berklee College of Music, an M.M. in Music Theory/Composition from UMassLowell and a M.Div. (magna cum laude) from Boston University School of Theology. He has written and produced six independent solo albums and performs original and reinterpreted Jazz/R&B/Blues/Fusion/Rock as a solo pianist and singer and in numerous duos/trios/quartets.This pre-performance lecture is free and open to the public.

Listen to this NPR Tiny Desk Concert!

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Orchestra $55/$45 | Balcony $45/$35 | All fees included

Thank you to our show sponsor:

President Joan Ferrini-Mundy
& Rick Mundy

Please note that we no longer have any COVID restrictions, but we encourage everyone to follow CDC Quarantine & Isolation recommendations. UMaine’s current COVID policies can be found here.