#ron pullman

Album Review: Jimmy Carter - Blind Faith

Nearly 80 years after joining the Blind Boys of Alabama, Jimmy Carter has made his first solo album.

Blind Faith finds the oldest and last of the original Blind Boys taking stock of his long life, sticking with the gospel and hopping genres like a spry youngin. Entering the winter of his being, Carter sets the tone early on the jazzy opener “After the Storm.”

My eyes haven’t never, ever seen and my music filled the ears of few, he wails with no regrets.

The album, engineered by Alan Parsons and mostly written and entirely produced by Ron Pullman, ends some 35 minutes later with the Delta blues of “Why Me?” Mostly spoken, with gospel backgrounds moaning the titular question, it finds Carter recounting childhood as the only sightless member of his family. But with blues harp echoing behind him, Carter doesn’t ask why he’s blind; he wants to know why God chose him to spread the woid and do his Earthly woirk, as pronounced in his Alabamian accent.

Dobro, fiddle, electric guitar, horns, the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind student choir and a snippet of “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” tucked inside “Lord Take Me” allow Carter to explore Celtic sounds and jazz, country, blues, soul, rock and gospel music while never straying from his religious message across nine tracks with titles such as “Crossing the Threshold,” “Find Your Way Home” and “I Love to Pray.”

Carter’s obvious devotion is as inspiring as it is uplifting and one can’t help giving thanks for its musical impact on this Blind Boy of Alabama.

Grade card: Jimmy Carter - Blind Faith - B