Writer: Chris Ahrens | Photography: Mike Eaton
The Great Depression was suffocating the American dream. Civil War veterans rocked themselves to sleep on creaky wooden porches, while their neighbors nursed the scars of slavery. The nation was stuck between two world wars. The recently revived Ku Klux Klan had swelled to four million members. It was 1929 and Clarence Fountain came into the world with a cry that would someday wake the dead with its honey-covered gravel pleadings.
    At two years old an accident (perhaps a divinely orchestrated one) left Fountain sightless, and led him to the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind. There he joined the glee club and, along with George Scott, Johnny Fields, JT Hutton, Ollice Thomas and Velma B. Taylor formed The Happyland Singers. They hit the road in a 1939 Buick, rolled on everything from dirt paths to major highways and gained believers one at a time. Eventually they lost a few members and added the vocals of Jimmy Carter and became known as The Blind Boys of Alabama.
    By the late 1950s, the Boys were well established for their tight harmonies and jubilant style. It was a booming post-war economy and more American children were being born than ever before. The entire nation embraced church while it ignored the God that it represented. Rock ‘n’ roll was the new religion and record companies lured congregational soloists into playing the “devil’s” music.
    Having watched sacred songs transformed into secular ones, The Blind Boys turned the tables by changing a few words in popular songs until they were reborn as gospel.
     Christian musicians generally fall into two distinct camps: those who blatantly play praise music and those who lay their lyrics between the lines. Very few (Al Green comes to mind) have successfully skirted both worlds with sound good enough that general audiences will endure a sermon to hear it. Only a handful of musicians beside The Blind Boys of Alabama can get an entire bar room on their feet to sing Amazing Grace.

Risen Magazine: What has inspired you as a musician?
Clarence Fountain: Well, I get a thrill out of singing to people. I want to do this all my life, to sing to people and let them know that there’s a reality in serving the Lord. It just thrills me to death to get up there and perform for people that don’t mind listening to good gospel music. That’s what we love to do, we’ve been doing it all our lives, we’ve been doing it for 60 years and we haven’t got tired yet; that’s the most important thing.

RM: What tempts you?
CF: I’m not too tempted by the things of the world ‘cuz I know all about that. And I know what the devil is out there trying to do, to bring more souls to him. I’ve tried to avoid that ‘cuz I know his game and he knows me. So, I’m not tempted by too many things, ‘cuz if you get tied up in worldly things it’s hard to be involved in heavenly things.

RM: You witnessed the birth of rock ‘n’ roll.
CF: Yeah, we were on Specialty Records, and that’s where Sam Cooke came from. He went and he didn’t survive. I’d be crazy to go into something that I knew might be my downfall, that’s why I stayed with the Lord. If the Lord can’t bring you through, can’t nobody bring you through. So, I’ve just hung in there, and I’ve said, whenever you get time to bless me Lord, that’ll be alright with me. And I’m not worried. You go to the Lord with a pure heart and an honest way and He’ll bring you through, I promise you that.

RM: So, you never stressed on your career?
CF: No, I never did. When Sam went, I was right there in the studio when the man gave him the contract to go. He offered the Blind Boys a contract too, ‘cuz we were on the same label. But I don’t believe in two-faced religion. If you’re gonna do somethin’, do it right. I just stayed on the battlefield and finally, after a while, when He got ready, He blessed us real good. I’m glad about it and I can receive it, and the Lord has done what He promised. Don’t go back on your word, if you promise the Lord you’re gonna do somethin’, you do that. I guarantee you; He’ll bring you out.

RM: Did you promise the Lord something?
CF: Yeah, I told Him that if He would just get us started, get us going, I’d go all the way. And I’ve done very well. In the last 15 years, He has blessed us real good, a