Song
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
Artist
Blind Boys Of Alabama and Jay Buchanan
Blind Boys Of Alabama/Jay Buchanan backstory
Blind Boys Of Alabama are recognised worldwide as living legends of gospel music.
They’ve been celebrated by The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and The Recording Academy/Grammys with Lifetime Achievement Awards.
The band’s been inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and won six Grammy Awards
They have appeared alongside artists including Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Aaron Neville, Susan Tedeschi, Ben Harper, Patty Griffin and Taj Mahal.
Blind Boys released their latest album — Echoes Of The South — in August 2023. The album bagged three Grammy Award nominations and won for Best Roots Gospel Album.
In March 2024, the definitive book on Blind Boys Of Alabama — Spirit Of The Century — was released.
Jay Buchanan is frontman with classic rock throwbacks Rival Sons and played his first solo headline show in London earlier this year.
The songwriter regularly collaborates on soundtracks with friend and producer Dave Cobb.
In Jay Buchanan’s own words
“Christmas songs can be daunting, right?
“One minute you’re singing along about loved ones gathering or a cozy fireside hang.
“And the next thing you know you’re in the weeds with elves, flying reindeer or an eerily omniscient Santa Claus character breaking into your house in the middle of the night. “Not this song.
“Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was coming from an almost broken, timeless place when he wrote the original poem in 1863 amidst the fractured ideology of the American Civil War.
“Will our better angels prevail through this dark time?
“It’s a message that never gets old and this is without a doubt my favourite Christmas carol of all time.”
The verdict on I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
Festive favourite? Politically charged protest song?
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day is both. And more.
The combined might of Blind Boys Of Alabama and Jay Buchanan breathes new life into a timeless and thought-provoking classic.
There’s an almost instinctive musicality at the heart of this truly moving rendition of a raw and surprisingly relevant take on Christmas.
Buchanan, of course, is a man for all seasons.
But the Blind Boys coax a performance that’s uniquely affecting even by the Rival Sons singer’s loft standards.
There’s a place for The Darkness, the Muppets and Shaky at this most wonderful time of the year.
And yet this intuitive version of I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day is a necessary antidote to the season’s silliness and overt commercialism.
What’s next for the Blind Boys and Buchanan
The realisation of peace on earth, perhaps?
