Ben Harper & The Blind Boys of Alabama

Ben Harper was scheduled to appear on the latest release from The Blind Boys of Alabama. But a simple guest spot grew into a 10-day studio session, leaving the 60-year-old group with an eclectic full-length album, There Will Be a Light.

“We jumped into what was supposed to be a couple of songs,” says Harper, “and it was Chernobyl—it just grew.”

The impromptu collaboration is a little funk, a little soul and a whole lot of the Lord. Over the course of 50 albums, the Blind Boys have become known for their Southern gospel sound. But they’ve also become adept at pushing musical genres past their comfort zones, covering songs by Tom Waits, Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan, and collaborating with everyone from Solomon Burke and Michael Franti to Richard Thompson and Shelby Lynne.

The connection between the Blind Boys and Harper goes deeper, though. A profound love and respect floats throughout their exchanges. And though the Blind Boys have been awarded a Grammy for each of their last three albums, seniority and longevity in the business didn’t seem to matter at all during the recording process. Blind Boys founding member Clarence Fountain is the first to recognize Harper’s unique ability to successfully blend Southern gospel, funk and rock.

“Ben is a good gospel writer to be a rock ’n’ roll singer,” he says. “I know he’s got soul. We’re sure of that. But I think he has something a little better than soul, and that’s wisdom and knowledge and knowing about the Lord. And that’s the most important thing.” The comparatively young singer responds to Fountain’s praise with a quiet, “Check that out.”

While the studio time is described by all as nothing short of magical, There Will Be a Light had its glitches—though an adamant Harper immediately corrects Rolling Stone’s claim that he originally passed on the project. “It was never a matter of passing—it was a matter of hopefully postponing it.”

When asked to collaborate, Harper was in the middle of promoting his fifth studio album, Diamonds on the Inside. “I didn’t want to make a record with legends and be on the cell phone half the time, ’cause that’s not how it’s done.” When Harper had a tour fall through, he took the opportunity to focus his attention on the Blind Boys.

“Every gospel song I’ve ever written has been for them,” says Harper. “It’s nice when I do them, but when the Blind Boys do them, they become immediate classics. That’s the power they have.”

Fountain makes it clear that their album is meant to be simple and soulful. “I think it’s a great CD because it has feeling—a natural-born soul—something that is hard to get out of anybody. I think we got the best out of each other, and I think it’s a job well done.”

Longtime Blind Boys producer Chris Goldsmith attributes the chemistry in the studio to the ability of all the musicians to check their egos at the door. “It was by far the easiest session I’ve ever done with the Blind Boys, mainly because they identified so easily with the material that Ben brought in. And once tape started rolling, the only thing that kicked us out was the end of the studio time, or else we would have made the record in about four days. There was very tangible magic going on in the sessions.”

While the record primarily consists of previously unrecorded material, a few familiar songs do make an appearance on Light. The most notable is “Picture of Jesus,” originally a collaboration between Harper and South African folk troupe Ladysmith Black Mambazo from Diamonds. The initial arrangement for the song included Ladysmith, the Blind Boys and country divas Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt. Unfortunately, says Harper, “[Ladysmith] weren’t having any of my Southern gospel tendencies; they weren’t getting around that. So we switched it to fit a South African style.” Though Harper is proud of the finished product on Diamonds, he still yearned to hear the song the way it was originally written, which led to the collaboration with the Blind Boys for the new album. The project—with its reverent respect for a higher power and, equally, for music—left quite an impression on Harper.

“Since this session, I’ve woken up every day with a bigger smile than ever before,” he says. “I wake up happier—this record has made my life so much better. I was born to be an honorary member of this group, and I’ve got the jacket to prove it.”