Photo credit: Michael Weintrob

After the passing of two key players, Paul Beasley and Benjamin Moore, as well as the official retirement of longtime group leader Jimmy Carter, The Blind Boys of Alabama have returned with their first full-length album in more than half a decade. Echoes Of The South which is slated for release on August 25. 

The new collection of songs was tracked in full at The NuttHouse Recording Studio in Sheffield, Ala. The aforementioned regional location has inspired them throughout the years, given the area’s mix of long-lost gospel classics and traditional spiritual tunes, which permeate onto the new album that also includes vintage R&B cuts made famous by Curtis Mayfield and Pops Staples. 

Echoes Of The South marks the band’s full-length debut for Alabama’s Single Lock Records, the artist-run indie label. The collection was made possible by co-producer Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price, John Prine), who helped the group generate material that touches the deep and fundamental elements of friendship, joy, gratitude, and perseverance, steeped in the group’s mission: “As long as everybody gives all that they have to give and we sing songs that touch the heart, this group will live on forever.” 

Emphasizing the notion of support and brotherhood is today’s album preview, The Blind Boys of Alabama’s take on Homer Banks and Lester Snell’s “Friendship,” a song that was made famous as one of the last to be recorded by a pivotal figure in the gospel community and patriarch of The Staples Sisters, Pops Staples. Listen to the first delivery off the LP and stream the ensemble’s cover of “Friendship” now.

Pre-order Echoes of the South now. Scroll down to view the official tracking list. 

Echoes of the South Tracking List: 

1. Send It On Down

2. Work Until My Days Are Done

3. Friendship

4. You Can’t Hurry God

5. Jesus You’ve Been Good To Me

6. The Last Time

7. Keep On Pushin’

8. Paul’s Prayer

9. Wide River to Cross

10. Nothing But Love

11. Heaven Help Us All