Christmas With the Blind Boys of Alabama

The Blind Boys of Alabama are recognized worldwide as living legends of gospel music. Celebrated by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, they are winners of six Grammy Awards and have attained the highest levels of achievement in a career that spans over 70 years. And on Friday, December 6, at 8 p.m., the group comes to The Suffolk to perform their Christmas Show. The Blind Boys Christmas Show mixes holiday standards with selections from their Grammy-winning holiday classic album, “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” and the spirited “Talkin’ Christmas” album.

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 released their latest album, “Echoes of the South,” in August of 2023. It found the Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductees coming home to Alabama to record in Muscle Shoals. The 11-song collection is a portrait of perseverance from a group well-versed in overcoming incredible odds — from singing for pocket change in the Jim Crow South to performing for three different American presidents, soundtracking the civil rights movement, and helping define modern gospel music as we know it. The album garnered three Grammy nominations and won for Best Roots Gospel Album.

That win continued a run of Grammy nods from the two previous years. In 2021, the group’s collaborative recording with Béla Fleck, “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free,” was tapped in the Best American Roots Performance category. In 2022, they garnered another nod for their collaboration with the band Black Violin on “The Message” in the Best Americana Performance category.

In March 2024, the definitive book on the Blind Boys of Alabama, titled “Spirit of the Century,” was released. It’s an insider history of America’s longest-running group and the untold story of their world, written with band members and key musical colleagues. Appearances on “The View” TV show and other major media outlets followed. After all these years, the Blind Boys show no signs of slowing down and on December 6, will have everyone in the audience singing and clapping along to spread the season’s joy.

Tickets are $59 to $89 at thesuffolk.org. The Suffolk is at 118 East Main Street in Riverhead.