Music Review: There Will Be a Light

I have said before that I am not really a follower of Gospel and Contemporary Christian music.  I am not familiar with the artists involved.

Recently a friend gave me a copy of the CD, “There Will Be a Light ,” by Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama .  The Blind Boys are a near-legendary gospel music group formed during the days of racial segregation in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama (USA) at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind.

For many years, the band performed in relative obscurity in local churches and auditoriums, growing in respect within the Black Gospel Music community.  Unlike many in the Christian music industry, the Blind Boys were willing to perform in venues not always explicitly Christian and to collaborate with other performers who were not all Christians.

Over the years the band has performed with Lou Reed, Timothy B. Schmidt, Randy Travis, Bonnie Raitt, Jars of Clay, Tom Petty, Peter Gabriel, Prince,  On the “There Will be Light” CD, they perform with the guitarist/singer Ben harper and his band, The Innocent Criminals.  The CD is clearly Gospel Music though Ben Harper is not a Christian.

It is, of course, naïve to think that everyone involved with the Christian music industry is a Christian.

There are eleven songs on the CD.  The music is a blues/country gospel mixture with many of the songs featuring Ben Harper’s slide guitar.  Jimmy Carter, one of the group’s founders (yes,  seventy-three years ago!) is still active with the group and performs the lead solo on “Satisfied Mind.”  “Mother Pray” will rip at your emotions, it certainly seems to be difficult for the lead singer.  My personal favorite is “Church House Steps.”

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