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Finding Higher Ground with The Blind Boys of Alabama

Chinita Tate
Chinita Tate
Nick Yee
Credit Nick Yee
Live at the Blue Note Hawaii.

The Blind Boys of Alabama have spread their style of gospel music for more than seven decades.   

The founding members of the group met as children in the late 1930’s- and have since released more than 60 records, and won 7 Grammys.

Although they were a fixture in the civil rights movement – and saw their career decline as audiences moved towards more popular music. But the band never crossed over to secular music, and their strength has become a source of inspiration for people with disabilities. 

Jimmy Carter is one of three surviving founding members of the group.  To him the journey was never about the money or the fame, but rather about spreading the gospel. 

 The Blind Boys of Alabama perform tonight at theBlue Note Hawaii.

Catch their performance on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert

Nick Yee’s passion for music developed at an early age, as he collected jazz and rock records pulled from dusty locations while growing up in both Southern California and Honolulu. In college he started DJing around Honolulu, playing Jazz and Bossa Nova sets at various lounges and clubs under the name dj mr.nick. He started to incorporate Downtempo, House and Breaks into his sets as his popularity grew, eventually getting DJ residences at different Chinatown locations. To this day, he is a fixture in the Honolulu underground club scene, where his live sets are famous for being able to link musical and cultural boundaries, starting mellow and building the audience into a frenzy while steering free of mainstream clichés.
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